COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Home Information Packs

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she has conducted a cost/benefit analysis of home information packs; and if she will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 17 May 2007
	The cost/benefit analysis of home information packs was set out in the Regulatory Impact Assessment that was published alongside the Home Information Pack Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/992) which were laid before Parliament on 29 March 2007.

Planning Permission: Hartley Wintney

James Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will list the advice she has received ahead of her decision on the planning application for Dilly Lane, Hartley Wintney; and, in so far as she is able under data protection principles, if she will list private representations on the same application.

Meg Munn: No final decision has been taken in this case. The Secretary of State's "minded to allow" decision was made on the basis of the Inspector's report and evidence submitted to the public inquiry held into the proposals.
	The "minded to allow" letter sought further evidence on the position with regard to the supply of housing land in Hart District. The deadline for submissions on that topic was 15 May. Officials will shortly be circulating the representations received on that issue, as promised in the "minded to allow" letter. The recirculation letter will also include a list of all other representations received as an Annex. The right hon. Member will receive a copy.

Travelling People: Caravan Sites

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many Gypsy Travellers sites have been built as a direct result of the Housing Act 2004.

Meg Munn: The Housing Act 2004 requires local authorities to undertake accommodation needs assessments for Gypsies and Travellers in their areas. Information collected in March showed that assessments were under way, or had been completed, in 90 per cent. of local authorities. We do not collect information on whether sites are built as a direct result of assessments.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Advertising: Food

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what use Ofcom plans to make of the Food Standards Agency's nutrient profiling model in redressing the imbalance of television advertising to children; and what account will be taken of typical portion size in implementing any system of redress.

Shaun Woodward: The matter raised is the responsibility of the Office of Communications (Ofcom) as independent regulator. Accordingly, my officials have asked the chief executive of Ofcom to respond directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the chief executive's letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Bingo: Smoking

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the smoking ban on bingo clubs.

Richard Caborn: The Government have not carried out a specific assessment of the potential impacts on the bingo industry of the smoke free provisions within the Health Act 2006. The overall costs and benefits of the Health Act are set out in the regulatory impact assessment which is available in the Library or on the Department of Health's website at:
	http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsLegislation/index.htm

Bookmakers: Fees and Charges

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the average amount of fees payable by Category  (a) A and  (b) B bookmakers to the Gambling Commission.

Richard Caborn: No average amount of licence fees payable has been estimated for Category  (a) A and  (b) B bookmakers. Application and annual fees for all sectors of the gambling industry, by category of operator, have been published in The Gambling (Operating Licence and Single-Machine permit Fees) Regulations 2006 [No. 3284] and The Gambling (Operating Licence and Single-Machine Permit Fees (Amendment) Regulations 2007 [No. 269]. The fees will apply to operating licences that take effect from 1 September 2007 and reflect the estimated costs for the Gambling Commission to undertake its necessary regulatory activities in respect of each sector of the gambling industry. The fees will be kept under review in the light of experience of operating the new regulatory and licensing regime.

Channel Four Television: Archives

Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received on Channel 4's public service obligations in relation to the purchase of 20th Century Fox's film archives; and if she will make a statement.

Shaun Woodward: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received no such representations.

Coastal Areas: Tourism

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the number of visits made to the English coast for the purpose of outdoor recreation in each of the last three years.

Shaun Woodward: Information on visits to the English coast for the specific purpose of outdoor recreation is not available. However, the tables show (i) the number of domestic overnight trips and (ii) the number of day visits to the English coast for all purposes for the latest years for which data are available. Information on inbound visits to the English coast by overseas residents is not collected.
	
		
			  Domestic overnight trips by UK residents( 1) —English seaside 
			   Million 
			 2003 23.7 
			 2004 28.4 
			 2005 25.7 
			 (1) The methodology for the UKTS changed in 2005 meaning that comparisons with previous years should be treated with caution. This change occurred as a result of concerns with the quality of 2004 data, which is thought to be an under-representation of the true position.  Source: UK Tourism Survey (National Tourist Boards). 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of day visits by English residents( 1) , 2005 
			  Million 
			   Leisure visits( 2)  Tourism visits( 3) 
			 Seaside town/city 170 47 
			 Seaside coast 70 15 
			 (1) It is not possible to provide a time series for this information as the surveys are run intermittently. (2) Defined as a round trip made from home for leisure purposes with no time limit or minimum distance travelled. (3) A subset of leisure visits defined as a round trip made from home which lasts for more than three hours and is not taken regularly.  Source: England Leisure Visits Survey 2005.

Cricket: Finance

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much financial support Sport England will provide for Cricket's Chance to Shine programme in each year until the 2012 Olympics.

Richard Caborn: Sport England have invested £2 million in the Cricket Foundation's "Chance to Shine" programme since November 2005. Future funding remains subject to the Cricket Foundation meeting previously agreed criteria and performance indicators, and to the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.

Culture: Liverpool

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of preparations for Capital of Culture in Liverpool.

David Lammy: When I visited Liverpool on 15 May I received a presentation from the Liverpool Culture Company. I was very impressed with the progress made to date and look forward to receiving further updates on the exciting events planned in due course.

Departments: Consultants

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the outside  (a) agencies and  (b) consultancies which are undertaking work commissioned by her Department; and what the (i) purpose and (ii) cost is of each commission.

David Lammy: Information correct at 16 May 2007. In response to part  (a) no agencies are undertaking work commissioned by the Department. For part  (b) and its subsequent questions, the following consultancies are currently undertaking work commissioned by the Department:
	
		
			  Consultancy  Work  Cost  (£) 
			 Atisreal Disposal of land to the north of the British Library 246,000 
			 Euclid Nominated cultural contact point for European Commission 110,000 
			 Odgers, Ray and Berndston Recruitment of chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority 35,000 
			 Saxton Bamfylde Hever Recruitment of chair of English Heritage 36,000 
			 PricewaterhouseCoopers Assessment of the costs and benefits of the World Heritage Site (UK) 69,000 
			 Trauma Training Survey of local capability in humanitarian response to emergency (UK) 28,000 
			 Deloittes Review of the Olympic Programme Support Unit 99,000

Digital Switchover Help Scheme

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she expects the first payments from the scheme outlined in the Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill to be made to older and disabled people.

Shaun Woodward: Whitehaven will be the first area to begin digital switchover. Those eligible for the help scheme in Whitehaven have already been contacted and will begin to receive assistance once a contractor has been appointed to run the scheme on behalf of the BBC. We expect this to take place in the summer.

Digital Switchover Help Scheme

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what consideration she has given to the merits of providing support to pensioner households for the costs incurred in the switchover to digital television.

Shaun Woodward: holding answer 21 May 2007
	A substantial body of research has been carried out to inform the scope of the help scheme. This suggests that age and disability are the most important indicators of lower digital TV take up.
	The DCMS Taking Part survey shows an adult take-up rate of 75 per cent. This falls very significantly for those over 75—just 45.6 per cent.—whereas the take-up rate for those aged 65-74 (65.6 per cent.) is much closer to the national figure. This shows that we are targeting our help on those who are most likely to need it.

Digital Switchover Help Scheme

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 104-5W, on digital television, how many qualifying households in each parliamentary constituency in Wales will be required to pay a £40 fee to access assistance.

Shaun Woodward: The information is not available in the form requested.
	We estimate about 42 per cent. of Welsh households eligible for help will qualify for free assistance under the Digital Switchover Help Scheme; 58 per cent. of Welsh households eligible for help will qualify for assistance to which there is a £40 charge.

National Lottery Distribution Fund

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the current balance is of the National Lottery Distribution Fund.

Richard Caborn: The overall National Lottery Distribution Fund balance at 30 April 2007, subject to audit and rounded to the nearest £1 million, was £1,762 million. This is the latest figure available and represents the sum of the balances held in the fund on behalf of all the non-Olympic distributing bodies.

National Sports Foundation: Finance

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding will be available to the National Sports Foundation in each year until the 2012 Olympics.

Richard Caborn: The level of funding available to the National Sports Foundation in each year beyond 2007-08 will not be decided upon until the outcome of the current Comprehensive Spending Review is known.

Olympic Games: Greater London

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport for what reason the three transport projects referred to in note 1 of the minutes of the Olympic cost review steering group of 28 November 2005 were transferred from the Olympic Delivery Authority to Transport for London.

Tessa Jowell: These transport projects were not transferred to Transport for London.

Olympic Games: Greater London

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on what date and for what reason the decision was taken to cancel the meetings of the Olympic cost review steering group planned for 8 December 2005 and 12 December 2005.

Tessa Jowell: In late 2005, in consultation with other stakeholders, I asked the Minister for Sport to chair a separate cost review to take forward the work of the steering group and to examine the Olympic budget in more detail.
	The original steering group was not therefore re-convened.

Olympic Games: Greater London

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on what issues her Department was negotiating with the Treasury on taxes, as stated in point 1 of the minutes of the Olympic cost review steering group of 14 November 2005; and whether these negotiations included discussions on VAT.

Tessa Jowell: In November 2005 the Department was discussing with HM Treasury the tax position of the then proposed Olympic Delivery Authority. This included discussion of VAT.

Olympic Games: Greater London

David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much has been spent to date on construction projects in preparation for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Tessa Jowell: The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) officially came into existence on the 30 March 2006, and started work on the 1 April 2006. The vast majority of the construction work is due to start from summer 2008, although a significant amount of preparatory activity has taken place including enabling works, infrastructure delivery, venue design, planning, integration with the Stratford City development, and transport planning. As is consistent with other non-departmental public bodies, the ODA will be publishing its expenditure figures in its annual report, and this will be available before the summer recess.

Olympic Games: Greater London

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans are in place to ensure that the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be able to be seen in the UK on high definition.

Shaun Woodward: The London Organising Committee for the Olympic games and Paralympic games and the broadcasters are committed to recording and transmitting the games in high definition.

Playing Fields

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what responsibilities Sport England has with regard to the protection of public playing fields.

Richard Caborn: Sport England is a statutory consultee on planning applications for proposals to develop playing fields with an area of 0.4 hectares or more. The Department for Communities and Local Government has committed to consulting on reducing this threshold to 0.2 hectares. That consultation is intended to take place later this year.

Playing Fields: Hackney

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions have taken place between Sport England and the London Borough of Hackney on the future of the playing fields at Hackney Marshes; and what the outcome was of those discussions.

Richard Caborn: The future of the playing fields at Hackney Marshes has been discussed at periodic meetings of the Hackney Marshes Sports Facilities Improvement (Olympic Legacy) Steering Group. These meetings, which began in 2005, are co-ordinated by officers of the London borough of Hackney and the London Development Agency (LDA). Sport England is among the stakeholders contributing to these discussions, which also include the Football Association, the National Playing Fields Association and the London Playing Fields Foundation.
	Work with consultants has been progressing to develop a draft sports strategy for the Hackney Marshes to provide new changing accommodation and substantially improved sports facilities to attract increased community participation in sport in the area. The London borough of Hackney and the LDA are planning to announce public consultations on their draft sports strategy within the next few months.

Public Places: Licensing

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many local authorities have signed up to the new register for licensed public spaces; and how many have done so since March 2007.

Shaun Woodward: At the launch of the Register of Licensed Public Spaces in England and Wales on 15 January 2007, 106 local authorities signed up. Since then, a further 54 local authorities have provided information to be included on the register, 11 of these since March 2007.

Sports: Chorley

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress has been made with proposals for a sporting village in Chorley; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: Sport England is still assessing the potential of Community Sports Hubs (formerly referred to as 'sports villages') as a new, innovative and sustainable model for community sports provision. Once feasibility studies are completed and the model proven, Sport England will begin to work with a number local authorities to roll out the concept.

Stonehenge

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when work will commence on the Stonehenge Visitors Centre; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: Planning consent was granted for the Stonehenge Visitor Centre subject to conditions, one of which is that improvements to the A303 go ahead, as set out in the published Stonehenge Improvement Order 2000. The Government are considering the findings of the A303 Review of Options and will make an announcement in due course on the way forward. Our intention remains that we find a solution for Stonehenge which will respect the status of Stonehenge as a World Heritage Site and which is affordable and deliverable.

Tourists: Australia

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many tourists visited the UK from  (a) Australia and  (b) New Zealand in each of the last 10 years.

Shaun Woodward: The following table shows the number of visits to the UK from Australian and New Zealand residents for the latest years for which data is available. These figures include holidays, business trips and visits to friends and relatives.
	
		
			  Total inbound visits 
			  T housand 
			   Australia  New Zealand 
			 1996 650 132 
			 1997 684 148 
			 1998 603 166 
			 1999 728 193 
			 2000 111 174 
			 2001 694 151 
			 2002 702 137 
			 2003 723 144 
			 2004 787 174 
			 2005 919 210 
			 2006 (provisional data) 911 221 
			  Source: International Passenger Survey (ONS)

VisitBritain

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the impact of VisitBritain's recent decision on staff redundancies upon her Department's target of creating a £100 billion tourism industry by 2010; and if she will make a statement.

Shaun Woodward: VisitBritain intends to improve focus on new and emerging markets, reflecting developments in customer demand. DCMS was fully informed of the reorganisation. These changes will improve VisitBritain's ability to promote Britain to overseas visitors, and to support the tourism industry's progress towards the target of £100 billion turnover.

DEFENCE

Aircraft Carriers

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the decision regarding the future aircraft carriers will be made; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: The main investment decision will be taken when we are confident that we have a robust, affordable deal. We are making good progress, together with industry, including on the possible joint venture between BAE Systems and VT Group.

Armed Forces: Casualties

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed service personnel  (a) died and  (b) were killed between 1 April 1998 and 31 March 2004.

Derek Twigg: holding answer 21 May 2007
	 Between 1 April 1998 and 31 March 2004, there were 906 deaths among regular UK armed forces personnel. Of these, 522 were killed by accidental or violent causes (excluding coroner-confirmed suicide and open verdict deaths).

Armed Forces: Housing

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what percentage of accommodation provided by his Department to those of the rank of  (a) General,  (b) Lieutenant General,  (c) Major General,  (d) Brigadier,  (e) Colonel,  (f) Lieutenant Colonel,  (g) Major and  (h) Captain is considered to be of Standard 1 condition;
	(2)  what percentage of accommodation provided by his Department to those of the rank of  (a) general,  (b) lieutenant general,  (c) major general,  (d) brigadier,  (e) colonel,  (f) lieutenant colonel,  (g) major and  (h) captain is considered to be of Standard 4 condition.

Derek Twigg: Service Families Accommodation (SFA) is provided in accordance with the published Tri-Service Accommodation Regulations. The Standard for Condition of each Type of SFA, along with the Army ranks entitled to it, is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Percentage 
			  SFA  Rank  Standard 1 for Condition  Standard 2 for Condition  Standard 3 for Condition  Standard 4 for Condition 
			 Type 1 General, LtGen 29 46 25 0 
			 Type 2 Maj Gen, Brig, Col 46 41 12 1 
			 Type 3 Brig, Col, LtCol 54 40 6 0 
			 Type 4 Major 53 42 4 1 
			 Type 5S Major 36 53 5 1 
			 Type 5 Captain and below 57 40 2 1 
			  Note: All figures are rounded to the nearest whole per cent. Some Type 5 Special SFA is not categorised, so the percentage figures do not add up to 100. 
		
	
	The Type of SFA offered to Captain (and below) can be affected by their number of dependants.

Armed Forces: Manpower

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures apart from retention initiatives his Department is implementing to increase armed forces manpower.

Derek Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 May 2007,  Official Report, columns 346-47W.

Armed Forces: Voluntary Organisations

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 20 March 2007,  Official Report, column 749W, on Armed Forces: voluntary organisations, on what basis the fee was waived for the charity event organised by Sergeant Biddiss and held at RAF Brize Norton in March 2006.

Derek Twigg: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Armed Forces: Winter Sports

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which ranks of the armed services attended the Army Ski Championships in 2007.

Derek Twigg: holding answer 14 May 2007
	All Army ranks from private soldier to Major participated in the Army Ski Championships, with predominance on the lower ranks—Private, Lance Corporal and Corporal. The Officials organising the event ranged in rank from Sergeant to Brigadier.
	A number of senior officers made brief visits to the Championship including the Chief of the General Staff in his capacity as the President of the Army Winter Sports Association.

Armed Forces: Winter Sports

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how the costs of holding the 2007 Army Ski Championships were met.

Derek Twigg: holding answer 14 May 2007
	The costs of the Army Skiing Championships are met from a combination of public, commercial sponsorship and non-public funds. The non-public element included contributions from the Army Winter Sports Association funds, Army Sports Lottery grants and individuals.

Astute Class Submarines

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the design life is of the Astute class of submarine.

Adam Ingram: Astute is due to enter service with the Royal Navy in 2009, and has a planned service life of 25 years.

Cadets: Recruitment

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what criteria he uses to assess the effectiveness of the Combined Cadet Force as a recruitment tool for the regular armed forces; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 3 May 2007,  Official Report, column 1848W-49W to the hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper). The Combined Cadet Force is not a recruiting organisation. Therefore while we maintain annual records of overall numbers, MOD does not keep records of the subsequent careers of any cadets.
	All the MOD sponsored cadet forces give young people the chance to develop their potential through interesting and challenging opportunities they would not normally experience while also developing an understanding of the values, customs and role of the armed forces. Young people also learn the importance of making a positive contribution to society. The skills and qualities of leadership, responsibility, self-reliance, resourcefulness, endurance and perseverance developed through membership of the cadet forces are a benefit to the cadets whatever career they choose to follow.

Chelsea Barracks: Sales

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much the Chelsea barracks were sold for; and how the net proceeds of the sale will be disposed of.

Des Browne: Contracts for sale of Chelsea Barracks were exchanged in April with completion expected in January 2008. The price obtained remains commercial-in-confidence until then. No decision has yet been made on the use of the receipts which will be taken into account in the next planning round.

Colchester Garrison: Security

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the estimated cost is of erecting a security fence at the Middlewick Firing Ranges, Colchester Garrison.

Derek Twigg: The estimated cost is £108,000. More detailed costs will be available once planning approval has been received and a more detailed specification has been established.

Defence Activities: Scotland

David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many  (a) military and  (b) civilian personnel are employed by his Department in Scotland.

Adam Ingram: Figures for UK regular forces located in Scotland are available in Table 12 of Tri-Service Publication (TSP) 10: UK regular forces distribution across UK. Copies of TSP 10 are available in the Library of the House and also at
	www.dasa.mod.uk
	TSP 10 is published quarterly.
	The most recent publication for the Army and Naval Service figures was on 1 October 2006, and shows the Naval Service had 3,800 personnel in Scotland and the Army had 3,440. The publication can be found at
	http://www.dasa.mod.uk/natstats/tsp10/tsp10_oct06r.pdf
	The most recent data for the RAF is from 1 April 2006, which shows a provisional estimate of 5,840 RAF personnel posted in Scotland. These figures are available at
	http://www.dasa.mod.uk/natstats/tspl0/tsp10_apr06.pdf
	There have been no major RAF base closures or squadron transfers into or out of Scotland since April 2006; however, the RAF drawdown across the UK has reduced total RAF numbers from 48,730 in April 2006 to 45,560 in March 2007.
	The following table shows the number of civilian personnel working in Scotland from April 2006 to January 2007.
	
		
			  Full-time equivalence civilian personnel by Government Office Region: Scotland 
			   2006  
			   April  July  October  January 2007 
			 MOD (excl. Trading Funds) 6,360 6,300 6,190 6,100 
			 Trading Funds 560 550 550 550 
			 Total(1) 6,920 6,850 6,740 6,650 
			 (1) This total includes Trading Funds but excludes Royal Fleet Auxiliaries.  Notes: 1. Full time equivalence counts part-time staff by the number of hours they work as proportion of their full-time conditioned hours.  2. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.

Defence Equipment

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Bailey Bridge sections are available for immediate use.

Adam Ingram: The MOD does not hold any Bailey Bridge sections. This equipment has been replaced by the Logistic Support Bridge.

Defence: Expenditure

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the Main Estimates 2007-08, HC 438, if he will break down Request for Resources  (a) 1,  (b) 2 and  (c) 3 expenditure provision by sub-head in (i) near cash and (ii) non-cash terms.

Adam Ingram: The following table provides a breakdown of the Requests for Resources of the Ministry of Defence Main Estimates 2007-08, HC 438, by sub-head showing all categories of expenditure.
	
		
			  Ministry of Defence Breakdown of M ain Estimates 2007-08—Resource e  stimates 
			  TLB  Estimate type  Main estimates (£000) 
			 Commander-in-Chief Fleet(1) Resource DEL near cash 2,109,978 
			  Resource DEL non-cash 1,548 
			  Total DEL 2,111,526 
			  AME near cash 0 
			  AME non-cash 0 
			  Total AME 0 
			  Non Budget near cash 0 
			  Non Budget non cash 0 
			  Total Non Budget 0 
			 Total Commander-in-Chief Fleet  2,111,526 
			
			 Commander-in-Chief Land Command(2) Resource DEL near cash 5,773,049 
			  Resource DEL non-cash 12,667 
			  Total DEL 5,785,716 
			  AME near cash 0 
			  AME non cash  
			  Total AME 0 
			  Non Budget near cash 0 
			  Non Budget non-cash 0 
			  Total Non Budget 0 
			 Total Commander-in-Chief Land Command  5,785,716 
			
			 Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Strike Command Resource DEL near cash 1,737,517 
			  Resource DEL non-cash 1,163 
			  Total DEL 1,738,680 
			  AME near cash 0 
			  AME non-cash 0 
			  Total AME 0 
			  Non Budget near cash 0 
			  Non Budget non-cash 0 
			  Total Non Budget 0 
			 Total Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Strike Command  1,738,680 
			
			 Chief of Joint Operations Resource DEL near cash 415,604 
			  Resource DEL non-cash 3,239 
			  Total DEL 418,843 
			  AME near cash 0 
			  AME non-cash 3,599 
			  Total AME 3,599 
			  Non Budget near cash 0 
			  Non Budget non-cash 0 
			  Total Non Budget 0 
			 Total Chief of Joint Operations  422,442 
			
			 Adjutant General Resource DEL near cash 850,891 
			  Resource DEL non-cash -92,230 
			  Total DEL 758,661 
			  AME near cash 0 
			  AME non-cash 0 
			  Total AME 0 
			  Non Budget near cash 9,254 
			  Non Budget non-cash 0 
			  Total Non Budget 9,254 
			 Total Adjutant General  767,915 
			
			 Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Personnel and Training Command Resource DEL near cash 768,985 
			  Resource DEL non-cash 1,190 
			  Total DEL 770,175 
			  AME near cash 0 
			  AME non-cash 0 
			  Total AME 0 
			  Non Budget near cash 0 
			  Non Budget non-cash 0 
			  Total Non Budget 0 
			 Total Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Personnel and Training Command  770,715 
			
			 Central Resource DEL near cash 2,062,494 
			  Resource DEL non-cash 132,053 
			  Total DEL 2,194,547 
			  AME near cash 0 
			  AME non-cash 3,899 
			  Total AME 3,899 
			  Non Budget near cash 0 
			  Non Budget non-cash 750 
			  Total Non Budget 750 
			 Total Central  2,199,196 
			
			 Science and Technology Resource DEL near cash 546,009 
			  Resource DEL non-cash -4,891 
			  Total DEL 541,118 
			  AME near cash 0 
			  AME non-cash 0 
			  Total AME 0 
			  Non Budget near cash 0 
			  Non Budget non-cash 0 
			  Total Non Budget 0 
			 Total Science and Technology  541,118 
			
			 Defence Estates Resource DEL near cash 935,317 
			  Resource DEL non-cash 1,562,269 
			  Total DEL 2,497,586 
			  AME near cash 0 
			  AME non-cash 0 
			  Total AME 0 
			  Non Budget near cash 3,141 
			  Non Budget non-cash 0 
			  Total Non Budget 5,045 
			 Total Defence Estates  2,500,727 
			
			 Defence Equipment and Support(3) Resource DEL near cash 6,686,319 
			  Resource DEL non-cash 9,000,691 
			  Total DEL 15,687,010 
			  AME near cash 0 
			  AME non-cash 83,696 
			  Total AME 83,696 
			  Non Budget near cash -4 
			  Non Budget non-cash 0 
			  Total Non Budget -4 
			 Total Defence Equipment and Support  15,770,702 
			
			 Total RfR1 Resource DEL near cash 21,886,163 
			  Resource DEL non-cash 10,617,699 
			  Total DEL 32,503,862 
			  AME near cash 0 
			  AME non-cash 91,194 
			  Total AME 91,194 
			  Non Budget near cash 12,391 
			  Non Budget non-cash 750 
			  Total Non Budget 13,141 
			 Total RfR1  32,608,197 
			
			 Conflict Prevention RfR2 Resource DEL near cash 44,303 
			  Resource DEL non-cash 0 
			  Total DEL 44,303 
			  AME near cash 0 
			  AME non-cash 0 
			  Total AME 0 
			  Non Budget near cash 0 
			  Non Budget non-cash 0 
			  Capital Non Budget 0 
			  Total Non Budget 0 
			 Total Conflict Prevention RfR2  44,303 
			
			 War Pensions and Benefits RfR3 Resource DEL near cash 0 
			  Resource DEL non-cash 0 
			  Total DEL 0 
			  AME near cash 1,026,982 
			  AME non-cash 25 
			  Total AME 1,027,007 
			  Non Budget near cash 0 
			  Non Budget non-cash 0 
			  Total Non Budget 0 
			 Total War Pensions and Benefits RfR3  1,027,007 
			
			 MOD Resource Total  33,679,507 
		
	
	
		
			  Capital estimates 
			  TLB  Main estimates (£000) 
			  RfR1 Capital DEL  
			 Commander-in-Chief Fleet(1) 50,458 
			 Commander-in-Chief Land Command(2) 239,111 
			 Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Strike Command 79,823 
			 Chief of Joint Operations 61,322 
			 Adjutant General 28,407 
			 Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Personnel and Training Command 28,867 
			 Central 14,545 
			 Defence Estates -110,528 
			 Defence Equipment and Support 7,155,621 
			 Total RfR1 Capital DEL 7,547,626 
			   
			  RfR1 Capital Non-Budget  
			 Defence Estates 1,904 
			   
			 RfR2 0 
			   
			 RfR3 0 
			   
			 Total Capital Estimates 7,549,530 
			 (1) In 2006-07, 2nd Sea Lord/Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command TLB was merged with Commander-in-Chief Fleet TLB. (2) In 2007-08, General Officer Commanding (Northern Ireland) TLB was merged with Commander-in-Chief Land Command TLB. (3 )In 2007-08, the Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Logistics Organisation were merged to form Defence Equipment and Support TLB.

Departments: Assets

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which assets of his Department were disposed of in the Portsmouth area in each of the last three years; and what the timetable for further disposals programme is.

Derek Twigg: The Ministry of Defence property assets that were disposed of by Defence Estates in the Portsmouth area for the last three financial years are as follows:
	 2006-07
	Clayhall Cottage, 51 Clayhall Road
	Defence Munitions Dean Hill, Main Site and adjacent land
	RNMT Depot, Hilsea
	 2005-06
	HMS Daedalus Technical Site and Residual Airfield areas
	HMS Daedalus Main Airfield area
	Fleet Photographic Unit, Stamshaw
	Footbridge above Nimrod Drive (Rowner Footbridge)
	Portsmouth Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Service Families Accommodation
	(SFA) Phase 1, Daedalus
	Small plot of land adjacent to Eastney Sports Ground
	Strip of land at 54 Military Road, Gosport
	Small parcel of land at OFD Gosport
	 2004-05
	The Brambles, 44 Marine Parade West, Lee-on-the-Solent
	1-46 Rodney Close, Rowner, Gosport, Hampshire
	Land at Seafield Park, Stubbington, Hampshire
	The current and future disposal program in the Portsmouth area is as follows:
	Portsmouth PFI SFA Phase 2, Daedalus
	Frater House and Civil Service Sports Ground, Gosport
	Royal Clarence Yard (RE Depot), Gosport
	Land at Bell Davies Road, Seafield Park, Stubbington
	Service Families Accommodation land at Titchfield
	Royal Hospital Haslar
	Small Plot of Land adjacent to Eastney Sports Ground

Helicopters: Costs

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the  (a) acquisition cost and  (b) average operating cost per hour is of the (i) RAF and (ii) Royal Navy version of the Merlin helicopter.

Adam Ingram: The acquisition cost of the RAF operated Merlin Mk 3 is around £19 million and for the RN operated Merlin Mk 1 is around £39 million.
	The large price differential is due to the inclusion of the sophisticated anti-submarine mission avionics, which are an integral part of the weapons system in the Merlin Mkl.
	The total operating cost per hour is approximately £34,000 for the Merlin Mk 3 and is approximately £42,000 for the Merlin Mk 1. These figures include both fixed and marginal costs, comprising servicing costs, fuel costs, crew capitation and training costs, support costs and charges for capital and depreciation.

Helicopters: Peace Keeping Operations

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many hours downtime for maintenance or due to fatigue the  (a) Lynx,  (b) Merlin and  (c) Sea King helicopters had during 2006 in (i) Iraq and (ii) Afghanistan; and what percentage of hours flown in that period that figure represents.

Adam Ingram: Information on the number of hours downtime for maintenance or due to fatigue for Lynx, Merlin and Sea King helicopters deployed during 2006 in Iraq and Afghanistan is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Helicopters: Peace Keeping Operations

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Lynx helicopters have been taken out of service  (a) to update counter measures,  (b) to fit electronic counter measures and  (c) to fit infra red jammers in the last five years.

Adam Ingram: No Lynx helicopters have been taken out of front-line service to be modified. They have been modified during scheduled maintenance activities, or during planned modifications programmes that work around the deployment and training requirements.
	We do not comment in detail about the defensive systems fitted to our aircraft in order to safeguard our personnel serving on operations.

Iraq: Peace Keeping Operations

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK fatalities in  (a) Iraq and  (b) Afghanistan have been attributed to the inadequate protection of vehicles with inadequate protection from roadside bombs.

Des Browne: No UK fatalities from roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan have been directly attributed to inadequately protected vehicles. Protection is provided through a combination of tactics, techniques and procedures as well as armour and other technical means. However, even with all of these measures employed, absolute protection can never be 100 per cent. guaranteed.

Military Bases: Visits

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the occasions in the last 12 months where Ministers have approved visits to barracks by hon. Members.

Derek Twigg: The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

Submarines

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Astute-class submarines he plans to order; and what their projected in-service dates are expected to be.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 21 May 2007
	 Three Astute class submarines are on order with BAES (Submarine Solutions), and I refer the hon. Member to my written ministerial statement of 21 May 2007,  Official Report, columns 55-56WS, about boat 4. Further boat orders are currently being considered, subject to affordability. We are working with industry as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy to achieve an affordable and sustainable submarine programme.
	The planned in-service date for the first of class, Astute, is 2009. The second of class, Ambush, will follow in 2010, and the third of class, Artful, in 2012.

Sudan: Armed Forces

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the armed forces of Sudan attended UK military establishments in each of the last three years.

Adam Ingram: In support of the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army, the Ministry of Defence has provided training to the Joint Integrated Units (JIU), consisting of the Government of Sudan Armed Forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. The JIUs are critical to strengthening the fragile peace that exists between the CPA's parties. Between financial years 2004-05 and 2006-07, 11 mid and senior ranking members of the JIU have attended UK military establishments to undertake courses on managing defence in a democracy and collective training. This can be broken down by financial year as follows: two in financial year 2004-05; nil in financial year 2005-06 and nine in financial year 2006-07.

Tanks: Peace Keeping Operations

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost per track/road mile, excluding crew costs, of operating the  (a) Challenger 2 Tank,  (b) Mastiff and  (c) Bulldog in Iraq.

Adam Ingram: Operational track mile cost data are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	The full capitation cost for the Challenger 2 Tank (all variants) based on peacetime usage is calculated as £496.15 per kilometre.
	Costs for the Mastiff and Bulldog are not currently available as these vehicles have only recently entered service.

War Pensions

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average waiting time was for the Veterans Agency to settle claims to personnel entitled to payments in each year since 1997.

Derek Twigg: Average clearance times for all claims made under the war pensions scheme since financial year 2000-01 were as follows:
	
		
			   Working days 
			 2000-01 92 
			 2001-02 73 
			 2002-03 63 
			 2003-04 61 
			 2004-05 57 
			 2005-06 52 
			 2006-07 49 
		
	
	Prior to 2000-01 performance data was gathered on a different basis and average clearance times were not recorded. Performance was measured against a target of 145 working days, and the percentage of claims cleared within this target was as follows:
	
		
			   Percentage 
			 1997-98 74.50 
			 1998-99 76.02 
			 1999-2000 75.59 
		
	
	The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) was introduced in 2005-06. In the introductory year of the scheme, no overall average clearance time figure was produced. In 2006-07 the average clearance time under the AFCS was 34 days.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Building Schools for the Future Programme: East Sussex

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding his Department plans to allocate to East Sussex Local Education Authority for the Building Schools for the Future programme in the next phase of the programme.

Jim Knight: East Sussex has projects prioritised in waves 10 to 15 of the Building Schools for the Future programme which may access funding from 2014-15, depending on future public spending decisions. No decisions have yet been made on funding for these projects. We aim to consult later this year on the management of waves seven onwards of the programme.
	Because of its late prioritisation in the programme, East Sussex has been offered £30 million of One School Pathfinder funding to renew its neediest secondary school. This funding is available from this year.
	Over the last three years (2005-06 until 2007-08), East Sussex and its schools have been allocated £55 million of capital support for investment in their buildings.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many people  (a) applied for and  (b) received disabled students' allowance in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what the average length of time was between application and receipt of disabled students' allowance funding in the latest year for which figures are available.

Bill Rammell: Applications for disabled students' allowances (DSA) are dealt with by local authorities and the Student Loans Company (SLC); information about the number of people who applied is not held centrally. Available data on English domiciled higher education students in receipt of DSA(1) are given in the table.
	(1) Data relate to Student Support Scheme students and include full-time, part-time, and postgraduate DSA.
	
		
			  Academic year  Number of HE students in receipt of DSAs( 1) 
			 2001/02 18,600 
			 2002/03 24,600 
			 2003/04(2) n/a 
			 2004/05 32,400 
			 2005/06 35,500 
			 (1) Numbers rounded to the nearest 100 students. (2) Due to a change in reporting arrangements, data are not centrally available for 2003/04.  Source: Student Loans Company (SLC) 
		
	
	The target turnaround for all applications for student support is six weeks. Applications for DSA tend to take longer because they involve a specialist assessment to determine course related needs. We do not set and monitor specific DSA processing times, but we have given advice to local authorities and the SLC to prioritise DSA applications with the aim of achieving payment of DSA in advance of the start of term for those who need it.

Education: Irish Studies

Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what  (a) funding and  (b) assistance he has approved to aid the establishment of Irish studies centres since 2004.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 21 May 2007
	 We have increased funding by over 20 per cent. in real terms since 1997 and now spend £10 billion a year on higher education, but we cannot by law fund Irish studies centres or any other centres directly since each higher education institution is responsible for spending the block grant we provide through the Higher Education Funding Council for England as it sees fit and for deciding how to organise teaching and research and the subjects to be studied, taking account of student demand.

Education: Standards

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 1 May 2007 to the Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton,  Official Report, column 1565W, on education: standards, 
	(1)  if he will break the figures on the number of schools down by local education authority indicating in each case how many  (a) selective,  (b) partially selective and  (c) comprehensive maintained secondary schools there are in each such authority;
	(2)  if he will break the figures on the number of pupils down to local education authority indicating in each case how many  (a) selective,  (b) partially selective and  (c) comprehensive maintained secondary schools each such authority contains.

Jim Knight: The information is shown in the following tables.
	Teacher assessment is not available for 2006.
	
		
			  Number of schools with: 
			  More than 20 per cent.  o f pupils at the same or lower level in KS3 compared to KS2 
			   Local authority  Number of selective schools  Number of non-selective maintained mainstream  English  Maths  Science 
			 202 Camden 0 9 2 0 8 
			 203 Greenwich 0 13 2 1 10 
			 204 Hackney 0 11 2 0 7 
			 205 Hammersmith and Fulham 0 8 1 1 3 
			 206 Islington 0 9 1 1 8 
			 207 Kensington and Chelsea 0 4 0 0 3 
			 208 Lambeth 0 11 1 0 9 
			 209 Lewisham 0 13 3 0 10 
			 210 Southwark 0 16 2 1 11 
			 211 Tower Hamlets 0 15 6 0 15 
			 212 Wandsworth 0 11 2 0 6 
			 213 Westminster 0 9 2 0 3 
			 301 Barking and Dagenham 0 9 4 0 8 
			 302 Barnet 3 17 0 0 9 
			 303 Bexley 4 12 6 0 11 
			 304 Brent 0 14 2 1 8 
			 305 Bromley 2 16 4 0 9 
			 306 Croydon 0 22 5 0 14 
			 307 Ealing 0 13 2 0 7 
			 308 Enfield 1 16 5 0 13 
			 309 Haringey 0 11 2 1 9 
			 310 Harrow 0 10 0 0 5 
			 311 Havering 0 18 4 0 12 
			 312 Hillingdon 0 18 11 0 12 
			 313 Hounslow 0 14 4 0 6 
			 314 Kingston upon Thames 2 8 1 0 1 
			 315 Merton 0 8 1 0 2 
			 316 Newham 0 15 3 1 13 
			 317 Redbridge 2 15 0 0 6 
			 318 Richmond upon Thames 0 8 2 0 6 
			 319 Sutton 5 9 0 0 5 
			 320 Waltham Forest 0 17 1 0 12 
			 330 Birmingham 8 68 21 3 58 
			 331 Coventry 0 19 5 0 16 
			 332 Dudley 0 22 2 0 12 
			 333 Sandwell 0 19 7 1 18 
			 334 Solihull 0 14 2 0 6 
			 335 Walsall 2 17 6 0 11 
			 336 Wolverhampton 1 17 5 0 16 
			 340 Knowsley 0 10 9 0 10 
			 341 Liverpool 1 30 9 2 22 
			 342 St. Helens 0 10 4 0 8 
			 343 Sefton 0 22 5 0 13 
			 344 Wirral 6 16 3 1 16 
			 350 Bolton 0 16 7 1 11 
			 351 Bury 0 14 4 0 6 
			 352 Manchester 0 23 11 2 22 
			 353 Oldham 0 15 6 0 11 
			 354 Rochdale 0 14 1 1 12 
			 355 Salford 0 15 9 0 12 
			 356 Stockport 0 14 3 0 7 
			 357 Tameside 0 18 4 1 16 
			 358 Trafford 7 11 3 0 8 
			 359 Wigan 0 21 7 0 16 
			 370 Barnsley 0 14 5 0 10 
			 371 Doncaster 0 17 10 0 13 
			 372 Rotherham 0 16 7 0 14 
			 373 Sheffield 0 27 9 0 16 
			 380 Bradford 0 29 10 0 25 
			 381 Calderdale 2 13 3 1 12 
			 382 Kirklees 1 24 9 0 15 
			 383 Leeds 0 39 10 1 28 
			 384 Wakefield 0 18 3 0 14 
			 390 Gateshead 0 11 2 0 9 
			 391 Newcastle upon Tyne 0 12 6 2 10 
			 392 North Tyneside 0 11 4 0 8 
			 393 South Tyneside 0 10 2 0 8 
			 394 Sunderland 0 18 5 1 16 
			 420 Isles of Scilly 0 1 0 0 0 
			 800 Bath and North East Somerset 0 13 4 0 3 
			 801 Bristol, City of 0 18 6 2 13 
			 802 North Somerset 0 10 2 0 4 
			 803 South Gloucestershire 0 16 1 0 8 
			 805 Hartlepool 0 6 2 0 5 
			 806 Middlesbrough 0 9 4 0 8 
			 807 Redcar and Cleveland 0 11 6 0 8 
			 808 Stockton-on-Tees 0 14 6 0 10 
			 810 Kingston upon Hull, City of 0 14 6 3 13 
			 811 East Riding of Yorkshire 0 18 3 0 7 
			 812 North East Lincolnshire 0 12 9 0 11 
			 813 North Lincolnshire 0 14 4 0 9 
			 815 North Yorkshire 3 40 10 0 11 
			 816 York 0 11 1 0 2 
			 820 Bedfordshire 0 17 4 0 10 
			 821 Luton 0 12 4 0 11 
			 825 Buckinghamshire 13 21 2 0 13 
			 826 Milton Keynes 0 12 2 0 5 
			 830 Derbyshire 0 47 11 0 23 
			 831 Derby 0 14 4 0 8 
			 835 Dorset 0 23 1 0 8 
			 836 Poole 2 6 0 0 3 
			 837 Bournemouth 2 8 3 0 6 
			 840 Durham 0 36 18 0 27 
			 841 Darlington 0 7 3 0 4 
			 845 East Sussex 0 27 8 1 17 
			 846 Brighton and Hove 0 9 5 0 7 
			 850 Hampshire 0 71 9 0 36 
			 851 Portsmouth 0 10 3 1 9 
			 852 Southampton 0 14 4 0 13 
			 855 Leicestershire 0 39 0 0 8 
			 856 Leicester 0 16 6 1 12 
			 857 Rutland 0 3 0 0 1 
			 860 Staffordshire 0 56 10 0 35 
			 861 Stoke-on-Trent 1 16 6 0 16 
			 865 Wiltshire 2 27 5 0 9 
			 866 Swindon 0 10 3 1 5 
			 867 Bracknell Forest 0 6 1 0 4 
			 868 Windsor and Maidenhead 0 9 2 0 4 
			 869 West Berkshire 0 10 0 0 2 
			 870 Reading 2 5 1 0 3 
			 871 Slough 4 7 3 0 6 
			 872 Wokingham 0 9 0 0 3 
			 873 Cambridgeshire 0 29 4 1 15 
			 874 Peterborough 0 14 6 0 11 
			 875 Cheshire 0 43 12 2 22 
			 876 Halton 0 8 4 0 7 
			 877 Warrington 0 12 2 0 5 
			 878 Devon 1 36 7 0 17 
			 879 Plymouth 3 14 5 1 8 
			 880 Torbay 3 5 2 0 4 
			 881 Essex 4 76 17 0 51 
			 882 Southend-on-Sea 4 8 1 0 4 
			 883 Thurrock 0 10 2 0 7 
			 884 Herefordshire 0 14 2 0 6 
			 885 Worcestershire 0 29 5 0 9 
			 886 Kent 33 72 26 1 56 
			 887 Medway 6 13 4 0 13 
			 888 Lancashire 4 80 17 0 40 
			 889 Blackburn with Darwen 0 10 2 0 6 
			 890 Blackpool 0 8 1 0 8 
			 891 Nottinghamshire 0 47 17 1 36 
			 892 Nottingham 0 18 9 5 16 
			 893 Shropshire 0 22 4 0 8 
			 894 Telford and Wrekin 2 12 3 0 10 
			 908 Cornwall 0 31 4 0 9 
			 909 Cumbria 1 41 10 1 24 
			 916 Gloucestershire 7 35 8 1 18 
			 919 Hertfordshire 0 76 10 0 38 
			 921 Isle of Wight 0 5 1 0 5 
			 925 Lincolnshire 15 48 8 1 29 
			 926 Norfolk 0 52 13 0 23 
			 928 Northamptonshire 0 39 8 1 21 
			 929 Northumberland 0 15 0 0 8 
			 931 Oxfordshire 0 34 7 0 14 
			 933 Somerset 0 30 6 0 21 
			 935 Suffolk 0 38 3 0 10 
			 936 Surrey 0 53 10 0 27 
			 937 Warwickshire 5 32 3 0 18 
			 938 West Sussex 0 37 5 0 19 
			  Total 164 2,983 729 48 1,849 
		
	
	
		
			Number of schools with: 
			   Local authority  More than 33 per cent. of pupils at the same or lower level in KS3 compared to KS2  More than 40 per cent. of pupils at the same or lower level in KS3 compared to KS2 
			English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science 
			 202 Camden 0 0 2 0 0 2 
			 203 Greenwich 1 0 8 0 0 1 
			 204 Hackney 0 0 4 0 0 2 
			 205 Hammersmith and Fulham 0 0 2 0 0 1 
			 206 Islington 0 0 5 0 0 3 
			 207 Kensington and Chelsea 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 208 Lambeth 0 0 1 0 0 0 
			 209 Lewisham 0 0 6 0 0 2 
			 210 Southwark 0 0 5 0 0 2 
			 211 Tower Hamlets 2 0 12 0 0 7 
			 212 Wandsworth 1 0 6 0 0 3 
			 213 Westminster 0 0 2 0 0 1 
			 301 Barking and Dagenham 0 0 5 0 0 2 
			 302 Barnet 0 0 2 0 0 0 
			 303 Bexley 0 0 4 0 0 2 
			 304 Brent 0 0 3 0 0 1 
			 305 Bromley 0 0 4 0 0 3 
			 306 Croydon 2 0 7 0 0 4 
			 307 Ealing 0 0 3 0 0 1 
			 308 Enfield 1 0 5 0 0 3 
			 309 Haringey 0 0 4 0 0 3 
			 310 Harrow 0 0 1 0 0 0 
			 311 Havering 1 0 7 0 0 3 
			 312 Hillingdon 3 0 8 2 0 3 
			 313 Hounslow 0 0 2 0 0 2 
			 314 Kingston upon Thames 1 0 1 1 0 0 
			 315 Merton 0 0 2 0 0 1 
			 316 Newham 0 0 7 0 0 3 
			 317 Redbridge 0 0 1 0 0 1 
			 318 Richmond upon Thames 0 0 2 0 0 1 
			 319 Sutton 0 0 1 0 0 0 
			 320 Waltham Forest 0 0 6 0 0 1 
			 330 Birmingham 7 0 38 4 0 18 
			 331 Coventry 1 0 9 0 0 2 
			 332 Dudley 0 0 6 0 0 1 
			 333 Sandwell 2 0 11 1 0 4 
			 334 Solihull 0 0 5 0 0 2 
			 335 Walsall 1 0 5 0 0 3 
			 336 Wolverhampton 0 0 11 0 0 5 
			 340 Knowsley 3 0 9 1 0 4 
			 341 Liverpool 2 0 12 0 0 9 
			 342 St. Helens 0 0 5 0 0 1 
			 343 Sefton 2 0 5 2 0 3 
			 344 Wirral 1 0 6 1 0 4 
			 350 Bolton 1 0 6 1 0 4 
			 351 Bury 1 0 3 0 0 2 
			 352 Manchester 2 0 18 1 0 13 
			 353 Oldham 2 0 7 1 0 6 
			 354 Rochdale 0 0 4 0 0 1 
			 355 Salford 0 0 6 0 0 4 
			 356 Stockport 0 0 2 0 0 1 
			 357 Tameside 0 0 8 0 0 5 
			 358 Trafford 1 0 2 0 0 0 
			 359 Wigan 1 0 5 0 0 1 
			 370 Barnsley 1 0 2 0 0 2 
			 371 Doncaster 1 0 8 0 0 3 
			 372 Rotherham 1 0 4 1 0 1 
			 373 Sheffield 2 0 10 0 0 5 
			 380 Bradford 0 0 15 0 0 9 
			 381 Calderdale 2 0 3 1 0 3 
			 382 Kirklees 1 0 8 0 0 4 
			 383 Leeds 5 0 14 2 0 9 
			 384 Wakefield 0 0 7 0 0 2 
			 390 Gateshead 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 391 Newcastle upon Tyne 2 0 5 2 0 2 
			 392 North Tyneside 1 0 1 1 0 0 
			 393 South Tyneside 0 0 5 0 0 4 
			 394 Sunderland 0 0 9 0 0 4 
			 420 Isles of Scilly 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 800 Bath and North East Somerset 0 0 1 0 0 0 
			 801 Bristol, City of 2 0 10 0 0 6 
			 802 North Somerset 0 0 1 0 0 1 
			 803 South Gloucestershire 0 0 4 0 0 0 
			 805 Hartlepool 1 0 1 0 0 1 
			 806 Middlesbrough 1 0 5 1 0 3 
			 807 Redcar and Cleveland 3 0 3 0 0 0 
			 808 Stockton-on-Tees 2 0 5 2 0 1 
			 810 Kingston upon Hull, City of 2 0 11 1 0 9 
			 811 East Riding of Yorkshire 1 0 3 0 0 1 
			 812 North East Lincolnshire 0 0 5 0 0 4 
			 813 North Lincolnshire 1 0 2 1 0 0 
			 815 North Yorkshire 2 0 3 0 0 1 
			 816 York 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 820 Bedfordshire 0 0 2 0 0 2 
			 821 Luton 0 0 4 0 0 1 
			 825 Buckinghamshire 0 0 2 0 0 1 
			 826 Milton Keynes 1 0 3 0 0 2 
			 830 Derbyshire 1 0 6 1 0 3 
			 831 Derby 1 0 2 0 0 2 
			 835 Dorset 0 0 2 0 0 0 
			 836 Poole 0 0 2 0 0 2 
			 837 Bournemouth 2 0 2 1 0 2 
			 840 Durham 3 0 10 2 0 3 
			 841 Darlington 2 0 2 0 0 2 
			 845 East Sussex 2 0 6 0 0 4 
			 846 Brighton and Hove 1 0 6 0 0 4 
			 850 Hampshire 2 0 12 0 0 5 
			 851 Portsmouth 0 0 6 0 0 5 
			 852 Southampton 1 0 8 0 0 3 
			 855 Leicestershire 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 856 Leicester 0 0 6 0 0 4 
			 857 Rutland 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 860 Staffordshire 0 0 7 0 0 2 
			 861 Stoke-on-Trent 0 0 8 0 0 4 
			 865 Wiltshire 2 0 2 0 0 0 
			 866 Swindon 0 0 2 0 0 2 
			 867 Bracknell Forest 0 0 1 0 0 1 
			 868 Windsor and Maidenhead 1 0 1 0 0 0 
			 869 West Berkshire 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 870 Reading 0 0 1 0 0 1 
			 871 Slough 0 0 1 0 0 1 
			 872 Wokingham 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 873 Cambridgeshire 0 0 2 0 0 1 
			 874 Peterborough 3 0 6 0 0 0 
			 875 Cheshire 2 0 7 0 0 4 
			 876 Halton 0 0 5 0 0 2 
			 877 Warrington 1 0 2 0 0 0 
			 878 Devon 3 0 3 1 0 1 
			 879 Plymouth 1 0 5 0 0 3 
			 880 Torbay 0 0 2 0 0 1 
			 881 Essex 6 0 17 2 0 7 
			 882 Southend-on-Sea 0 0 3 0 0 0 
			 883 Thurrock 0 0 5 0 0 0 
			 884 Herefordshire 0 0 1 0 0 1 
			 885 Worcestershire 2 0 2 1 0 2 
			 886 Kent 7 0 28 4 0 14 
			 887 Medway 1 0 7 0 0 5 
			 888 Lancashire 4 0 13 1 0 4 
			 889 Blackburn with Darwen 0 0 4 0 0 1 
			 890 Blackpool 0 0 4 0 0 2 
			 891 Nottinghamshire 4 0 12 1 0 7 
			 892 Nottingham 1 0 13 0 0 8 
			 893 Shropshire 0 0 1 0 0 1 
			 894 Telford and Wrekin 0 0 7 0 0 4 
			 908 Cornwall 1 0 1 1 0 0 
			 909 Cumbria 3 0 10 1 0 4 
			 916 Gloucestershire 3 0 10 0 0 5 
			 919 Hertfordshire 1 0 8 1 0 4 
			 921 Isle of Wight 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 925 Lincolnshire 3 0 7 1 0 4 
			 926 Norfolk 1 0 5 0 0 3 
			 928 Northamptonshire 2 0 7 1 0 5 
			 929 Northumberland 0 0 1 0 0 1 
			 931 Oxfordshire 1 0 3 0 0 0 
			 933 Somerset 1 0 1 1 0 0 
			 935 Suffolk 1 0 1 0 0 0 
			 936 Surrey 3 0 11 2 0 4 
			 937 Warwickshire 1 0 8 0 0 2 
			 938 West Sussex 0 0 6 0 0 3 
			  Total 145 — 788 49 — 385

Educational Attainment

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many  (a) maintained secondary schools and  (b) independent secondary schools fell within each percentage point in terms of the proportion of pupils at the end of key stage 4 who achieved grade C or above in GCSE (i) English, (ii) mathematics, (iii) a modern foreign language, (iv) history and (v) geography.

Jim Knight: The information requested has been placed in the House Library.

Home Education

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of children who receive education at home; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: We do not collect information about the number of children whose education is arranged by their parents. A recent study on the prevalence of home education in England, conducted by York Consulting estimated that there were around 16,000 children being educated at home that were known to the local authority. We have not made any estimate of the number of home educated children that are not known to their local authority.

Home Education: Standards

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what advice he has given local education authorities on monitoring the emotional and physical welfare of home-educated children.

Jim Knight: We have recently published draft guidelines which set out advice to local authorities and home educating parents on their respective responsibilities. In the guidelines we refer local authorities and all agencies to the principles set out in "Working Together to Safeguard Children" (Home Office/Department off Health/DfES/Welsh Office, 1999).
	The guidelines also explain that section 175(1) of the Education Act 2002 requires local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. If there are welfare concerns about any child, including a home educated child, the local authority can insist on seeing the child concerned to make appropriate inquiries.

Home Education: Standards

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he has taken to ensure that education given at home is to the same standard as that in schools.

Jim Knight: The Government believe that for most children school is the best place for them to be educated. However, there are circumstances where parents choose to educate their children at home, and we respect the decisions that these parents have made. On 8 May we published draft guidelines for consultation which set out how local authorities can best support home educating parents.
	Home educating parents must provide a suitable education for their children. Local authorities can make inquiries to establish whether suitable education is being provided, using section 437(1) of the Education Act 1996 to support their inquiries with a formal notice where necessary. The parents of any child who is not receiving an adequate education may be served with a school attendance order.

Learning and Skills Council for England

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which policy documents his Department has published since the establishment of the Learning and Skills Council that are relevant to its work.

Bill Rammell: The information requested is not held centrally. Each year, the Department for Education and Skills Departmental Report lists publications it has produced. Copies of each of the departmental reports since April 2001, when the LSC became operational, are available in the House Library. In addition, in the Learning and Skills Council's Annual Grant Letter, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State sets out the key priorities for the year as well as the resources available.

Music: Teachers

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers have applied to the £2 million fund for the professional development of music teachers; and how much of that fund is expected to be spent.

Jim Knight: The contract to develop and deliver a programme of professional development for practitioners involved in music in primary schools was agreed with the Open University and Trinity College London after a tender exercise last autumn. Funding for the programme is for both the development and delivery of a national CPD programme, which is free for participants.
	Every practitioner has a mentor and an individualised training programme. So far 356 applications have been received from people wanting to become training mentors and 203 people have already been trained. 760 applications have been received for the practitioner training, which began last month. Registrations can continue to be taken up to November 2007 and we expect that the funding available will all be spent by the end of this financial year.

Nurseries: Closures

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pre-schools have closed since the introduction of foundation stage units in each parliamentary constituency; and what assessment he has made of the impact of closures on parental choice of education provision.

Beverley Hughes: It is entirely a matter for local authorities how they organise pre-school provision in maintained settings. Some have, at different times, chosen to brigade provision for all foundation stage pupils together in what are sometimes described as "Foundation Stage Units".
	Data in the form requested is therefore not collected centrally. The total number of pre-school child care providers has stayed the same between 2001 and 2005 at approximately 22,000, with the majority, 84 per cent., in the private, voluntary and independent sectors. (DfES Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey 2005.)
	The Government are committed to ensuring that parents have access to a range of high quality early education providers so they are able to choose the type and pattern of early years and school provision which best meets their needs and those of their children.

Part-time Education

Hywel Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of strategies adopted by higher education institutions in England to support part-time students; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: In 2006, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) reviewed widening participation initiatives for both full and part-time study. I have placed a copy in the Library. The review identified significant progress; and emphasised good practice which HEFCE will disseminate to higher education institutions. HEFCE have allocated £53 million over two years (2006/07 to 2007/08) towards widening access for part-time students, and £56 million to improve their retention.
	In September 2006 the Government improved the financial support available to part-time students, including a 27 per cent. increase in fee grant compared to 2005/06 and the introduction of discretionary additional fee support through the Access to Learning Fund. There are early indications that more part-time students are taking advantage of this financial support.
	Between 2000/01 and 2005/06, the number of UK part-time undergraduate students has increased by 23 per cent. (the comparable increase in full-time students was 17 per cent.).

Prisons: Education

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many prisoners achieved  (a) GCSEs,  (b) A/S or A levels and  (c) other qualifications in each of the last 15 years.

Phil Hope: The information requested is not collected centrally.
	The introduction of the Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) through the Learning and Skills Council from 31 July 2006, means that data on offender achievement will increasingly become available for adults, young offenders and juveniles in custody, in England.

Pupil Referral Units

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils were educated at some time during the year at a Pupil Referral Unit in each year since 1997, broken down by  (a) local authority,  (b) ethnicity,  (c) gender and  (d) age.

Jim Knight: The information requested has been placed in the House Library.

Pupils: Ethnic Groups

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the percentage change is in the proportion of children defined as black or minority ethnic in  (a) denominational and  (b) maintained schools in each English local education authority since 2000-01.

Jim Knight: The available information has been placed in the House Library.
	A new set of codes to record the ethnicity of pupils was introduced in January 2002 consistent with the categories used in the 2001 national census. Schools were, however, permitted to report data on either the old or the new codes, between which there is no direct mapping. Therefore, the answer gives information on pupils' ethnicity from 2003 onwards to promote consistency.

Schools: Combined Heat and Power

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 10 May 2007,  Official Report, columns 365-66W, on schools: combined heat and power, whether the £110 million allocated for the purpose of reducing carbon emissions as part of the refurbishment of secondary schools is ring-fenced.

Jim Knight: The funding of £110 million over three years to 2010-11 will be ring-fenced specifically for the purpose of reducing carbon emissions of school which will have at least 75 per cent. of their gross floor area rebuilt under the Building Schools for the Future programme, including academies.
	The additional funding will reflect the size of the school and will provide about £500,000 for the average secondary school. The funding will be provided to the local authority specifically to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy measures that directly reduce schools' carbon emissions. We will set a target reduction in carbon emissions of a minimum of 60 per cent. for this investment. We are also exploring the potential for investing in measures to offset carbon emissions through regulated schemes which will help the push towards carbon neutrality.

Schools: International Cooperation

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on progress on twinning British schools with schools abroad.

Bill Rammell: Under the DfES International School Award (ISA) programme, 1,248 new schools have become involved since September 2006, bringing a total of 2,663 schools involved in the programme to date. To achieve the award schools must have an international school partner.

Schools: Sport

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what financial provision the Government have committed to provision of sport in schools.

Jim Knight: Government investment in the National School Sport Strategy has been £978.5 million in the five years to 2008. Funding beyond 2007-08 is currently being reviewed by the Secretary of State following the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement.

Teachers

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent discussions he has held on vertical tutoring; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: We have not held any recent discussions on vertical tutoring.
	We want schools to provide a tailored education for every child and believe that the effective use of pupil grouping plays an important part in supporting that aim. We have been encouraging schools to use setting and other forms of pupil grouping since 1997. But it will continue to be for schools to decide how and when to group and set pupils; both in tutor groups and/or lessons. That is the only practical approach.
	We published a cluster of guidance documents alongside independent research into pupil grouping last September. The guidance includes a set of principles for grouping policy, definitions of different types of grouping and a self-evaluation toolkit.

Unemployment: Young People

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people not in employment, education or training were aged  (a) under 19,  (b) under 21 and  (c) under 25 years (i) in each constituency, (ii) local education authority and (iii) region in the latest period for which figures are available.

Bill Rammell: The following table shows the estimated number of young people aged 16-18 who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in each local authority area and region. These figures are drawn from the operational client management systems maintained by Connexions Services. Connexions services do not report figures at constituency level or on young people aged under 21 or under 25 years.
	The figures include 16-18 year olds known to the Connexions; young people who attended independent schools or were at school outside England may be excluded. The age relates to those of calendar year age 16-18 on the date of measurement. The figures are for the average percentage NEET between November 2006 and January 2007.
	This NEET measure is that used for setting and monitoring local authority NEET targets. The definition differs from that used to measure the national departmental PSA NEET target. Along with not covering the entire population, the Connexions NEET measure excludes those on gap years, or in custody. The PSA measure is for academic rather than calendar age 16-18.
	
		
			  Estimated number of 16-18 year olds not in education, training or employment 
			   16-18 year olds NEET 
			  South East 14,070 
			 Bracknell Forest 180 
			 Reading 400 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 140 
			 Slough 240 
			 West Berkshire 240 
			 Wokingham 150 
			 Kent 2,970 
			 Medway 620 
			 Buckinghamshire 450 
			 Milton Keynes 490 
			 Oxfordshire 900 
			 Portsmouth 460 
			 Southampton 640 
			 Isle of Wight 260 
			 Hampshire 2,140 
			 Surrey 960 
			 Brighton and Hove 710 
			 East Sussex 1,170 
			 West Sussex 1,050 
			   
			  London 16,160 
			 Camden 380 
			 Islington 550 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 190 
			 Lambeth 510 
			 Southwark 610 
			 Wandsworth 400 
			 Westminster 260 
			 Barking and Dagenham 730 
			 Bexley 480 
			 City of London 10 
			 Greenwich 840 
			 Hackney 670 
			 Havering 590 
			 Lewisham 500 
			 Newham 950 
			 Redbridge 430 
			 Tower Hamlets 680 
			 Barnet 510 
			 Enfield 690 
			 Haringey 630 
			 Waltham Forest 540 
			 Bromley 510 
			 Croydon 830 
			 Kingston 180 
			 Merton 200 
			 Richmond 140 
			 Sutton 340 
			 Brent 450 
			 Ealing 500 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 280 
			 Harrow 360 
			 Hillingdon 710 
			 Hounslow 600 
			   
			  East of England 12,300 
			 Bedfordshire 920 
			 Luton 620 
			 Cambridgeshire 900 
			 Peterborough 610 
			 Essex 2,890 
			 Thurrock 450 
			 Southend 530 
			 Hertfordshire 1,670 
			 Norfolk 2,040 
			 Suffolk 1,780 
			  South West 9,640 
			 Bournemouth 400 
			 Dorset 770 
			 Poole 290 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 1,060 
			 Devon 1,300 
			 Plymouth 710 
			 Torbay 320 
			 Gloucestershire 920 
			 Somerset 760 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 260 
			 Bristol 950 
			 North Somerset 250 
			 South Gloucestershire 390 
			 Swindon 580 
			 Wiltshire 740 
			   
			  West Midlands 16,240 
			 Birmingham 3,920 
			 Solihull 690 
			 Dudley 840 
			 Sandwell 1,140 
			 Walsall 870 
			 Wolverhampton 960 
			 Coventry 950 
			 Warwickshire 1,150 
			 Herefordshire 290 
			 Worcestershire 920 
			 Shropshire 450 
			 Telford and Wrekin 530 
			 Staffordshire 2,050 
			 Stoke on Trent 1,430 
			   
			  East Midlands 9,150 
			 Derby 710 
			 Derbyshire 1,480 
			 Leicester 1,200 
			 Leicestershire 1,080 
			 Lincolnshire 1,130 
			 Rutland 10 
			 Northamptonshire 1,420 
			 Nottinghamshire 1,220 
			 Nottingham 930 
			   
			  Yorks and The Humber 16,310 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 620 
			 Kingston upon Hull 1,330 
			 North East Lincolnshire 660 
			 North Lincolnshire 570 
			 Barnsley 900 
			 Doncaster 1,180 
			 Rotherham 1,130 
			 Sheffield 1,680 
			 Bradford 1,560 
			 Calderdale 640 
			 Kirklees 1,420 
			 Leeds 2,170 
			 Wakefield 1,230 
			 York 420 
			 North Yorkshire 880 
			 North West 21,530 
			 Cheshire 1,260 
			 Warrington 450 
			 Cumbria 950 
			 Bolton 1,170 
			 Bury 550 
			 City of Manchester 1,760 
			 Oldham 750 
			 Rochdale 720 
			 Salford 750 
			 Stockport 810 
			 Trafford 490 
			 Tameside 720 
			 Wigan 1,140 
			 Halton 540 
			 Knowsley 690 
			 Liverpool 2,040 
			 Sefton 870 
			 St. Helens 680 
			 Wirral 1,210 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 600 
			 Blackpool 620 
			 Lancashire 2,820 
			   
			  North East 10,360 
			 Durham 2,060 
			 Northumberland 980 
			 Darlington 330 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 610 
			 Middlesbrough 870 
			 Hartlepool 400 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 610 
			 Sunderland 1,320 
			 Gateshead 750 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 1,120 
			 North Tyneside 700 
			 South Tyneside 550 
		
	
	All figures are rounded and regional totals may not, therefore, be the sum of authorities in the region.

Unemployment: Young People

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what proportion of  (a) 20-year-olds,  (b) 21-year-olds,  (c) 22-year-olds,  (d) 23-year-olds and  (e) 24-year-olds in each local education authority were not in employment, education or training in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Bill Rammell: The information requested on  (a) 20-year-olds,  (b) 21-year-olds,  (c) 22-year-olds,  (d) 23-year-olds and  (e) 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training, in each local authority area, is not available.
	Data on young people not in education, employment or training collected by Connexions services is available only for young people aged 16 to 18.

Women's Prisons: Education

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many hours of education 10 to 17-year-old female offenders received on average per week in the last period for which figures are available; and who supervises the  (a) delivery and  (b) effectiveness of this education.

Phil Hope: Latest figures show that women offenders in young offender institutions receive an average of 31.36 hours of learning and skills per week. Separate data for women are not collected in secure training centres and secure children's homes but the figures for all young offenders are that 99.4 per cent. of young offenders in secure training centres and 79.9 per cent. in secure children's homes receive 30 hours of education, training or employment activity a week.
	 (a) Education delivery is supervised by the head of learning and skills in young offender institutions and by the head of education in secure children's homes and secure training centres. In young offender institutions, the Learning and Skills Council funds and commissions provision through the Offenders Learning and Skills Service. Secure training centres and secure children's homes hold contracts with the Youth Justice Board which set out the requirements for education delivery.
	 (b) Ofsted inspect and regulate to raise standards in education and skills. Young offender institutions are inspected by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons and they invite Ofsted to inspect the education and skills provision. The Commission for Social Care Inspectorate inspects secure training centres and secure children's homes and invites Ofsted to inspect education. Inspection occurs through a mixture of unannounced and planned inspections. The responsibility for implementing the recommendations made in the inspection reports lies with the head of learning and skills in young offender institutions and the head of education in secure training centres and secure children's homes.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture: Children

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what resources the Government have allocated to support the Year of Food and Farming initiative  (a) in total and  (b) in relation to facilitating the access of children to farms.

Barry Gardiner: DEFRA has worked closely with the Department for Education and Skills, the Department of Health, and other stakeholders to support the Year of Food and Farming (YFF). We have provided financial support to develop the programme, including £130,000 of funding last financial year to support the start-up phase. In addition, DEFRA has lent a member of staff to the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) to work on the initiative. However, the YFF is an industry-led campaign, and the bulk of funding and sponsorship is coming from industry partners.
	DEFRA is committed to developing the understanding young people have of where and how their food is produced. To that end, we provide approximately £1 million a year in payments to farmers who provide educational visits to their farms as part of their agri-environment scheme agreements. In addition, in this financial year, DEFRA will provide £146,000 for the Countryside Educational Visits Accreditation Scheme (CEVAS), which provides training to farmers who provide educational access visits. This amounts to 50 per cent. of the scheme's funding.

Agriculture: Subsidies

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many  (a) adjusted payments have been made,  (b) cases are under review,  (c) claimants have not received any payment and  (d) claimants are awaiting their balance payment having already received a partial payment under the 2005 Single Payment Scheme.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 8 May 2007
	Of the 25,000 cases subject to review that my right hon. Friend reported in his statement of 22 February 2007,  Official  Report, column 59WS, entitlements have been adjusted for 5,500 claimants and confirmed as correct for 2,500 claimants. The net number now under review is approximately 22,000.
	There are 19 claimants who have not received any SPS 2005 payment and five claimants awaiting their balance payment after having received a partial payment. The majority of these 24 are probate cases.

Agriculture: Subsidies

David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he expects to meet the payment deadline for the 2006 single payment scheme.

Barry Gardiner: I refer the right hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 15 May 2007,  Official Report, column 29WS.

Coastal Areas: Access

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent estimate he has made of the effect on the rural economy of improving access to the coast; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: We are currently considering Natural England's report on coastal access, and will shortly launch a public consultation document inviting views on ways of improving access. At the same time, we will also publish a partial regulatory impact assessment and information on the research study that we commissioned to examine the benefits and costs of relevant options. This research includes an assessment of the benefits to local economies.

Departments: Internet

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects to have the web links on his ministerial blog updated; and how much he estimates this will cost.

Barry Gardiner: Links to websites or blogs are reviewed from time to time as part of the day to day administration of the Secretary of State's blog. The cost of updating links is included within the overall costs identified in my reply to James Paice on 7 November 2006,  Official Report, column 1070W.

Environmental Stewardship Scheme

Geoffrey Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many applications for the Higher Level Stewardship scheme were  (a) made and  (b) granted (i) in the south-west, (ii) in Torridge and west Devon and (iii) nationally in the scheme years (A) 2005-06 and (B) 2006-07.

Barry Gardiner: In 2005-06 there were 235 Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) applications received in the south-west. 180 were granted. In the same period there were 927 HLS applications received nationally. 773 were granted.
	In 2006-07 there were 385 HLS applications received in the south-west. 122 were granted. In the same period there were 1724 HLS applications received nationally. 816 were granted.
	Natural England are currently unable to provide this data at a parliamentary constituency level, but they are looking into the feasibility of enhancing their reporting systems with a view to doing so for the future.

Environmental Stewardship Scheme

Geoffrey Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the  (a) highest,  (b) lowest and  (c) average value of award made under the Higher Level Stewardship scheme was (i) in the south-west, (ii) in Torridge and west Devon and (iii) nationally in the scheme years (A) 2005-06 and (B) 2006-07.

Barry Gardiner: The highest, lowest and average values of annual payments made under Higher Level Stewardship, nationally and in the south-west for the given years are set out in the following table.
	Natural England are currently unable to provide these data at a parliamentary constituency level, but they are looking into the feasibility of enhancing their reporting systems with a view to doing so for the future.
	
		
			  £ 
			   Highest  Lowest  Average 
			  2005-06
			 South-west 83,731.58 826.95 13,271.12 
			 National 300,583.13 618.75 15,693.15 
			 
			  2006-07
			 South-west 183,576.75 284.32 17,439.23 
			 National 328,689.74 284.32 19,008.44

Environmental Stewardship Scheme

Geoffrey Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether it is possible for applicants whose applications to the Higher Level Stewardship scheme have been refused to reapply in the following year.

Barry Gardiner: Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) applications which are rejected may be re-submitted by the applicant during the next quarterly application window or beyond.
	Natural England encourages applicants to discuss their HLS proposals with them so that a realistic initial assessment can be made of the application before further effort is expended.

Environmental Stewardship Scheme

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether all those who met the original criteria for payment from the Higher Level Stewardship Scheme are receiving the sums originally expected.

Barry Gardiner: Once accepted into Higher Level Stewardship, agreement holders receive a payment every six months for the duration of their agreement. The payment rates set out in an HLS agreement apply for the first five years of that agreement. If any changes are made to payments rates following a payment review, they will apply for the remaining period of the agreement.

Greyhounds

John MacDougall: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will introduce a tax on greyhound racing bookmakers to help pay for the welfare of greyhounds when they retire.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 21 May 2007
	The Government have no plans to introduce a tax on greyhound racing bookmakers to help pay for the welfare of greyhounds when they retire.

Milk: Prices

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions his Department has had with supermarkets on prices paid to dairy farmers.

Barry Gardiner: Price negotiations are a private commercial matter in which the Government cannot get involved, as long as competition rules are respected. However, we believe it is in the long-term interest of buyers to establish fair and sustainable arrangements for dealing with their suppliers.
	We welcome the Competition Commission's announcement on 23 January2007 that, in taking forward its inquiry into the groceries market, it intends to look further at the impact of supermarket buyer power on primary producers in the dairy sectors.

Milk: Prices

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what change there has been in farm gate milk prices in  (a) Lancashire and  (b) England in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 17 May 2007
	DEFRA holds data on milk prices covering the United Kingdom (UK) as a whole, but not for counties within the UK.
	The following table shows average monthly farm-gate prices for the UK calculated from separate monthly surveys on the value of milk. The surveys were conducted by DEFRA in England and Wales, the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department in Scotland, and the Department for Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland. The prices represent the average price per litre of milk received by producers each month, net of delivery charges. No deduction has been made for superlevy and no adjustment has been made for butterfat or protein content. The prices are shown both excluding and including any retrospective bonus payments made to date by milk purchasers.
	
		
			  UK average farm gate milk prices 
			  Pence per litre 
			   Excluding bonus payments  Including retrospective bonus payments 
			   2003-04  2004-05  2005-06( 1)  2006-07( 1)  2003-04  2004-05( 1)  2005-06( 1)  2006-07( 1) 
			 April 16.84 17.70 17.59 17.34 16.85 17.72 17.59 17.36 
			 May 15.99 16.94 17.11 16.82 16.00 16.95 17.12 16.83 
			 June 16.51 17.28 17.30 16.83 16.55 17.30 17.31 16.84 
			 July 18.21 18.27 18.06 17.18 18.22 18.28 18.06 17.19 
			 August 18.95 18.50 18.64 17.60 18.96 18.51 18.65 17.61 
			 September 19.24 19.48 19.46 18.45 19.26 19.49 19.47 18.47 
			 October 19.59 19.51 19.71 18.82 19.60 19.53 19.71 18.84 
			 November 19.82 19.49 19.76 19.00 19.83 19.50 19.77 19.01 
			 December 19.15 18.93 19.26 18.71 19.16 18.94 19.27 18.72 
			 January 18.76 18.53 18.65 18.17 18.77 18.54 18.66 18.18 
			 February 18.68 18.31 18.34 18.40 18.70 18.34 18.35 18.41 
			 March 18.47 18.32 18.11 — 18.48 18.33 18.12 — 
			 Average 18.27 18.39 18.45 — 18.28 18.41 18.46 — 
			 (1) Data are provisional.  Sources: DEFRA, SEERAD, DARD NI 
		
	
	The latest prices, excluding bonus payments, for February 2007 shows a 0.6p per litre increase from February 2006. As bonus payments are often not paid until the end of the financial year, prices including bonus payments in 2006-07 are not directly comparable with those in previous years.

National Fruit Collection

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what tenders it has received from third parties in relation to the contract to manage the National Fruit Collection; whether any of those parties' tenders would  (a) break up and  (b) relocate the collection from Brogdale; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 16 May 2007
	The bids are currently being processed by DEFRA. Under competition rules it is not possible to comment on the content of any of the bids since to do so might prejudice the outcome of the process.

Rights of Way: Databases

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he has taken to establish a national dataset of  (a) public rights of way and  (b) tree preservation orders to assist cross-compliance enforcement.

Barry Gardiner: Local authorities have the primary role in providing information for both of these cross compliance requirements and take measures appropriate to their areas, making information available to, or receiving information from RPA if requested.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Ascension Island

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when she expects the Island Council of Ascension to meet next.

Ian McCartney: The Island Council (Ascension) Ordinance was suspended by the Governor in April when insufficient nominations were received for the election of an Island Council. The suspension will last for a period of approximately 12 months. In the interim period, the Governor will proceed with such legislative and policy decisions as he needs to take for good governance in Ascension, taking appropriate advice as required.

Ascension Island: Economic Situation

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost was of producing the 2005 Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Office's economic report on Ascension Island.

Ian McCartney: The cost of producing the economic study by the Oxford Policy Management Group, which was completed in October 2005, was £35,766.98.

Ascension Island: Tourism

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many tourists visited Ascension Island in 2005-06.

Ian McCartney: Entry to Ascension Island is regulated through an Entry Permit control system. With very few exceptions, every arrival needs an Entry Permit and this includes persons in transit, visitors of relatives or friends and 'tourists' as well as many of the people working and living on Ascension.
	During 2005 and 2006 the number of persons transiting or categorised as tourists were:
	
		
			   Holiday  Transit  Total 
			 2005 1,034 1,575 2,609 
			 2006 1,068 1,776 2,844

Burma: Nuclear Power

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with  (a) the Russian Ambassador and  (b) the Ambassador of Burma on the export of Russian nuclear technology to Burma; and if she will make a statement.

Ian McCartney: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has had no discussions with the Russian Ambassador or the Burmese Ambassador about the export of Russian nuclear technology to Burma.
	We are concerned by recent reports that Russia will be exporting nuclear technology to Burma and will be seeking clarification.
	Any such export would need to be consistent with both parties' relevant international obligations, including those under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). The International Atomic Energy Agency would need to be able to verify fulfilment of Burma's obligations under the NPT, through the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement which Burma has signed with the Agency.

Cyprus

Edward O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will hold discussions with her Turkish counterpart and with the Turkish administration in Northern Cyprus on the full re-opening of Famagusta.

Geoff Hoon: Ministers and officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office hold regular discussions with their Turkish counterparts and Turkish Cypriot community leaders on a range of issues relating to the current situation in Cyprus. Ultimately, we believe that the ongoing division of the island can only be resolved through a comprehensive settlement brokered by the UN. We continue to urge both sides to show the political will and flexibility to bridge the gap between words and deeds, and to engage constructively with the UN's efforts to broker a comprehensive and durable settlement.

Cyprus

Edward O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether  (a) a Minister of her Department and  (b) an official of the British high commission in Cyprus has visited the closed area of Famagusta.

Geoff Hoon: Our high commissioner in Nicosia and other officials have visited the closed area of Varosha. As far as we are aware, no Minister from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has visited Varosha.

Departments: Buildings

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much her Department spent on staff offices in the UK in each of the last five years.

Geoff Hoon: The amounts spent on rents, rates, utilities, maintenance and refurbishment by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on staff offices in the UK in each financial year from 2001-02 to 2005-06 are listed as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2001-02 10,994,601 
			 2002-03 13,149,036 
			 2003-04 14,050,467 
			 2004-05 15,966,480 
			 2005-06 19,467,977

Departments: Correspondence

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what correspondence has been received by her Department from Mr. David Rose of Dublin.

Ian McCartney: The Government have received substantial correspondence from Mr. David Rose over several years. To collate information on all correspondence received would incur disproportionate cost.

Departments: Manpower

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many staff funded by the public purse in her Department are classified as people without posts.

Geoff Hoon: There are 32 members of staff in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office who are currently available for work but not deployed. All staff in this position have access to vacancy information and are deployed whenever possible in temporary or project work.

Departments: Private Finance Initiative

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what value of annual private finance initiative payments by her Department was classified as  (a) identifiable and  (b) non-identifiable in each of the last five years, broken down by project.

Geoff Hoon: All payments made under private finance initiative (PFI) are identifiable. Prior to a PFI contract being signed the profile of unitary charge payments is agreed between the contractor and the public sector, subject to the operation of the payment mechanism.

Departments: Private Finance Initiative

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what value of annual private finance initiative (PFI) payments were  (a) to repay capital and  (b) expenditure on other parts of each PFI contract, broken down by project in each of the last five years.

Geoff Hoon: The following is an analysis of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's payments against private finance initiative contracts in the years indicated:
	
		
			  £000 
			   Global Telecommunications  Berlin Embassy Service and interest costs  Berlin Embassy Capital repayments 
			 2005-06 26,924 5,711 342 
			 2004-05 27,634 7,234 370 
			 2003-04 22,146 4,477 400 
			 2002-03 20,674 3,843 434 
			 2001-02 15,991 3,800 — 
		
	
	The Global telecommunications payments are for a contract with Global Crossing for the provision of a world-wide telecommunications network for a term of 10 years from 10 May 2000, which is treated as an operating lease.
	The Berlin Embassy payments are for a contract with Arteos for the building, operation and maintenance of our Embassy in Berlin, the value of which has been capitalised in our balance sheet.

EC Action: Adoption

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will make a statement on the recognition of adoption orders in the Council of Europe.

Ian McCartney: A number of member states of the Council of Europe are contracting states to the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption. The UK ratified the Hague Convention in 2003. The Hague Convention applies only to intercountry adoptions and requires all contracting states to recognise adoptions that are made in accordance with the convention.
	In respect of adoptions to which the Hague Convention does not apply, or where a Council of Europe member state is not a party to the Hague Convention, it is a matter for individual Council of Europe member states whether to recognise adoptions made outside their jurisdiction.
	The Council of Europe 1967 European Convention on the Adoption of Children aims to harmonise the laws in contracting states to promote the welfare of children who are adopted. However, the convention does not provide for international recognition of adoptions made in the UK, or in any other country. It is a matter for each contracting party to the convention to decide whether to recognise adoptions made outside its jurisdiction. The UK denounced the 1967 convention in respect of the metropolitan territory and the Isle of Man in 2005 and remains a party only in respect of the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey.

EC Action: Adoption

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will make a statement on the recognition of British adoptions in other European Union countries.

Ian McCartney: A number of member states of the EU are contracting states to the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption. The UK ratified the Hague Convention in 2003. The Hague Convention applies only to intercountry adoptions and requires adoptions that are made in accordance with the convention to be recognised in all contracting states.
	In respect of adoptions to which the Hague Convention does not apply, or where a EU member state is not a party to the Hague Convention, it is a matter for individual EU member states whether to recognise adoptions made outside their jurisdiction.

EC Action: Adoption

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what response the Government have made to the Council of Europe's ruling on case no. 5913/72, on recognition of adoptions.

Ian McCartney: Case 5913/72 was brought against Ireland in 1972. The European Commission of Human Rights declared this case inadmissible on 18 December 1973. It is not for the Government to respond to cases relating to other Council of Europe member states.

EC Action: Adoption

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations the Government have made to the Council of Europe about the recognition of British adoptions abroad.

Ian McCartney: The Council of Europe 1967 European Convention on the Adoption of Children aims to harmonise the laws in contracting states to promote the welfare of children who are adopted. However, the Convention does not provide for international recognition of adoptions made in the UK, or in any other country. It is a matter for each contracting party to the Convention to decide whether to recognise adoptions made outside its jurisdiction. The UK denounced the 1967 Convention in respect of the metropolitan territory and the Isle of Man in 2005 and remains a party only in respect of the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey.
	The Government have not therefore made any representations to the Council of Europe about the recognition of British adoptions abroad.
	A number of member states of the Council of Europe are contracting states to the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption. The UK ratified the Hague Convention in 2003. The Hague Convention applies only to inter-country adoptions and requires all contracting states to recognise adoptions that are made in accordance with the Convention.
	In respect of adoptions to which the Hague Convention does not apply, or where a Council of Europe member state is not a party to the Hague Convention, it is a matter for individual Council of Europe member states whether to recognise adoptions made outside their jurisdiction.

EC Action: Communication

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will place in the Library a copy of her Department's response to the European Commission's 2006 White Paper on a European Communications Policy.

Geoff Hoon: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's response to the Commission's 2006 White Paper on a European Communications Policy was sent to the Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee and the Chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee on the EU on 26 October 2006.
	A copy will also be placed in the Library of the House and I will arrange for a copy to be sent to the hon. Member.

Embassies: Manpower

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many staff were employed in UK embassies abroad in each year since 1980.

Geoff Hoon: The following table sets out the number of staff employed at Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) posts overseas on 1 April for each year since 1995. Figures are not available for the year 2000.
	We do not hold records centrally of staff numbers in embassies and consulates overseas for years prior to 1995. To compile those data would incur disproportionate cost.
	
		
			   Number of UK based staff  Number of locally engaged staff 
			 2007 2,807 10,730 
			 2006 2,798 10,063 
			 2005 2,719 10,811 
			 2004 2,673 9,466 
			 2003 (1)2,017 9,062 
			 2002 2,611 9,098 
			 2001 2,600 8,795 
			 2000 n/a n/a 
			 1999 2,595 n/a 
			 1998 2,336 n/a 
			 1997 2,350 n/a 
			 1996 2,415 n/a 
			 1995 2,472 n/a 
			 (1) A new Management Information system was introduced in 2004. The figures for the transition period in 2003 are less reliable: they are likely to be an underestimate. 
		
	
	In addition there are a small number of staff who are employed locally and are not paid through the FCO payroll. These numbers are not held centrally and have not been included.
	The overall increase in staffing at our posts overseas is due to a rise in the number of staff delivering consular and visa services to the public. These staff positions are funded out of revenue generated by the sale of passports and visas. Their number is therefore dependent on demand. This increase masks a significant reduction over the same period in the number of staff, funded from central budgets, performing other diplomatic functions.

Iraq

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 25 April 2007,  Official Report, column 1175W, on Iraq, how many requests for resettlement assistance have been received from Iraqi citizens working for the British army deployed in Southern Iraq; in which countries these requests have been received; and how many have been  (a) accepted and  (b) rejected.

Liam Byrne: I have been asked to reply.
	In the same manner as most other international resettlement countries the UK does not operate a bespoke resettlement programme through which an individual can apply directly to a UK overseas post. Therefore the statistics requested are not available.
	In order to qualify for resettlement the established recognised international process is that an individual seeking protection must first register with the UNHCR who will initially decide whether it is appropriate to afford Mandate Refugee status. If they are given Mandate Refugee status the UNHCR will, in due course, decide which durable solution is appropriate. A very small minority of refugees only are referred by the UNHCR for resettlement and it is their decision as to which of the most vulnerable cases should take priority. Under these referral arrangements the UK currently accepts around 500 people for resettlement per year.

Iraq: Asylum

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment has been made of the United Kingdom's responsibilities for Iraqi refugees under international law since 2003.

Liam Byrne: I have been asked to reply.
	The United Kingdom's responsibilities in international law for refugees, including Iraqi refugees can be found in the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol (together "the Convention").
	Like all other refugees, Iraqi refugees are entitled to the protection of the Convention. Those who are in the United Kingdom (or at a UK port of entry) and who are assessed by the UK as falling within the terms of the Convention are entitled to receive protection in the UK.
	Under the Convention, refugees are people who are outside the country of their nationality because of a well founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion and who, because of this fear, are unwilling or unable to avail themselves of the protection of their national authorities. Certain individuals can be excluded from protection where they commit certain serious acts or crimes.

Iraq: Security Guards

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will place in the Library a list of private military companies operating in Iraq indicating in each case in which country they are registered.

Ian McCartney: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not keep a record of private military and security companies (PMSCs) operating in Iraq as this is a matter for the Government of Iraq. We are aware of 12 UK mainland registered PMSCs operating in Iraq:
	Aegis;
	ArmorGroup;
	Blue Hackle;
	BritAm Defence;
	Centurion;
	CRG;
	Erinys International;
	Janusian;
	GardaWorld;
	Olive;
	Pilgrims; and
	Global Strategies Group.
	The trade association, Private Security Company Association of Iraq (PSCAI) (www.pscai.org/fulllist2.html) lists further companies, but this list is not exhaustive, as membership of the PSCAI is not compulsory.

Kyrgyzstan: Politics and Government

Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports she has received on the political situation in Kyrgyzstan; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: Our non-resident ambassador to Kyrgyzstan (based in Almaty, Kazakhstan) and his staff regularly visit Kyrgyzstan and report on the political situation there. Since the Opposition led demonstrations in Bishkek in April, the political situation in Kyrgyzstan has been more stable. The Opposition failed to achieve its objective of ousting President Bakiev through demonstrations.
	We welcome President Bakiev's initiative to set up a working group under Prime Minister Atambayev to look at further amendment of the constitution and will be monitoring the working group's discussions.

Mediterranean Region: International Cooperation

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what response she has made to French proposals to create a union of Mediterranean countries.

Ian McCartney: We look forward to discussing this proposal with the French Government as and when details emerge.

Pakistan: Politics and Government

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the political situation in Pakistan.

Ian McCartney: We are concerned about recent political tensions in Pakistan. In particular, we condemn the violence seen on the weekend of 12 May in Karachi and urge restraint on all parties. We will continue to watch the situation closely.

Russia: Estonia

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations she has made to the Russian Government on anti-Estonian demonstrations.

Geoff Hoon: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not made any representations to the Russian Government on anti-Estonian demonstrations following the relocation of the "Bronze Soldier" war memorial. The Government fully support the EU presidency and NATO statements, which expressed grave concern over the safety of the Estonian embassy and its staff in Russia, and urged Russia to fulfil its international obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. We see this as an internal matter for Estonia and we recognise the right of the Estonian Government to relocate memorials and war graves. We note this has been done with due sensitivity and respect.

Russia: Estonia

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports her Department has received of the recent alleged Russian cyber warfare attacks on Estonian Government sites; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: The Government are aware of the recent cyber attacks on Estonian websites. Our embassy in Tallinn has been following the situation closely. We are deeply concerned by this development and we fully support the ongoing efforts by NATO to help the Estonian authorities investigate this matter further.

Russia: Pipelines

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with the German Presidency on the Druzhba pipeline; what assessment she has made of the implications of the situation for EU-Russian relations; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: EU Foreign Ministers considered various aspects of the relationship between the EU and Russia, including supplies through the Druzhba pipeline, at the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) on 14 May as part of their preparations for EU/Russia Summit in Samara on 17-18 May.
	Member states did not agree at the GAERC that talks on a successor to the current EU-Russia Partnership and Co-operation Agreement could begin at the Summit. We believe it would be better if talks started sooner rather than later. But the substance of the negotiations is far more important than when they begin.

Uzbekistan: Human Rights

Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the human rights situation in Uzbekistan; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: We remain seriously concerned about human rights in Uzbekistan and closely monitor the situation there, with our EU partners. On individual cases, we welcome the fact that journalist and human rights defender, Umida Niyazova, has been released, but urge the Uzbek Government to lift the conditions attached to her suspended sentence. We also welcome the fact that EU experts saw Saidajon Zainabiddinov in April, but we urge the Uzbek authorities to allow families access to imprisoned relatives eg the human rights defender, Mutabar Tojibayeva, and party leader, Sanjar Umarov. We hope that the Uzbek authorities will give a sympathetic hearing to Gulbahor Turayeva's appeal.
	On Uzbekistan's co-operation with international organisations, we hope that the International Committee of the Red Cross will soon be able to resume visiting prisons. We regret that the Goethe Institute is now facing difficulties in Tashkent.
	We welcome the start of the EU-Uzbekistan Human Rights Dialogue. On 14 May, the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council decided to keep measures against Uzbekistan under review on the basis of the criteria set out in previous Council conclusions, taking into account the actions of the Uzbek Government in the area of human rights, including the results of the human rights dialogue. The Council urged Uzbekistan to implement fully its international obligations relating to human rights, rule of law and fundamental freedoms.

HEALTH

Mental Health

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been allocated for spending on mental health support services in Coventry in 2007-08; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: Coventry Teaching Primary Care Trust has provided Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust with £46 million for 2007-08. This will provide mental health, learning disability and substance misuse services across Coventry and Warwickshire.

Mental Health

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of trends in the numbers of people diagnosed with mental illness in England.

Rosie Winterton: The Department commissions regular surveys of psychiatric morbidity among different population groups. The survey carried out in 2000 among adults living in private households, which was a repeat of the first such survey in 1993, found no significant change in the overall rates for any neurotic or psychotic disorder. A further survey has been commissioned and is expected to report in 2008.

Mental Health

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many mentally ill patients have been accepted into hospitals under section 135 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

Rosie Winterton: The numbers of place of safety detentions in England under section 135 of the Mental Health Act 1983 in all hospital facilities since April 1988 are shown in the table.
	
		
			   Number 
			 1988-89 83 
			 1989-90 87 
			 1990-91 237 
			 1991-92 99 
			 1992-93 128 
			 1993-94 108 
			 1994-95 145 
			 1995-96 184 
			 1996-97 204 
			 1997-98 246 
			 1998-99 239 
			 1999-2000 237 
			 2000-01 264 
			 2001-02 318 
			 2002-03 363 
			 2003-04 337 
			 2004-05 314 
			 2005-06 382 
			  Source: DH and Information Centre published data KH15, K037 and KP 90.

Cancer Survival Rates

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on cancer survival rates.

Rosie Winterton: Over the last 30 years, cancer survival rates have doubled. Nearly 80 per cent. of women now survive breast cancer for at least five years and for colon cancer, 50 per cent. of patients will survive for at least five years compared to 26 per cent. in the 1970s.

Maternity Services

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the provision of maternity services accessed by those in Lewes.

Ivan Lewis: Women in the Lewes constituency have, and will continue to have, personalised maternity care and a choice of high quality, safe and clinically viable settings when deciding where and how to have their baby.

Maternity Services

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the safety of maternity services in the UK compared with  (a) other European and  (b) non-European developed countries.

Ivan Lewis: It is not possible to make a direct comparison of the safety of maternity services in this country compared to other European and non-European countries because in the United Kingdom we use far more inclusive and detailed data collection systems which are not comparable. Many other countries are now starting to adopt the UK methodology so we will be able to make more meaningful comparisons in the future.

NHS: Finance

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on NHS financial performance in London in 2006-07.

Andy Burnham: At quarter 3 of 2006-07, London Strategic Health Authority economy reported a forecast deficit of £125.3 million. The national health services as a whole reported a small surplus, and we expect the final position to show further improvement.
	We will publish the quarter 4 finance report in June.

NHS: Finance

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS organisations failed to pay 95 per cent. of bills within contract terms, or 30 days where no contract terms were agreed, in the latest period for which figures are available.

Andy Burnham: The information requested is included in the following table.
	
		
			   Number of organisations that failed to pay 95 per cent. of bills within contract terms or 30 days where no contract terms were agreed in 2005-06 
			 Strategic health authorities 24 
			 Primary care trusts 254 
			 National health service trusts 194 
		
	
	The NHS paid over 15 million bills in the 2005-06 financial year, of which 79 per cent. were paid on time.

NHS: Finance

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the NHS net financial deficit in 2005-06 was financed, broken down by  (a) departmental and  (b) non-departmental budget source of funds for meeting the deficit.

Andy Burnham: The 2005-06 NHS financial deficit was largely offset by underspends on centrally managed funds. The NHS Litigation Authority's declared reduction to provisions for clinical negligence was the largest component of the central underspend. A range of other central budgets also produced underspends.

NHS: Finance

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 29 March 2007,  Official Report, columns 1790-91W, on NHS: finance, why capital-to-revenue transfers took place in  (a) 2004-05 and  (b) 2005-06.

Andy Burnham: The Government have strict fiscal rules that differentiate between current expenditure, which over the economic cycle must be met from current income, and capital expenditure, which may be borrowed within the strict limits set for total public sector debt. Departmental budgets reflect these arrangements.
	Transfers from the capital budget to the resource budget were made in 2004-05 and 2005-06 for two reasons. Firstly, capital grants allocated to fund social care programmes in the local authority sector were funded from the capital budget, yet accounted as revenue expenditure. These capital-to-revenue transfers were possible as the expenditure gave rise to fixed assets. Secondly, transfers took place when funding the Connecting for Health project, as the clarification of technical details led to an increased understanding of the appropriate split of expenditure on the project.

Blind and Partially Sighted People

Robert Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the provision of services for people who are blind or partially sighted.

Ivan Lewis: It is for local health services and social services to assess the clinical and support needs of individuals who are blind or partially sighted. Decisions are made at a local level as to how best to meet the support needs of individuals based on those assessments.

Terrorist Attacks: NHS Staff Training

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS staff are trained to deal with chemical, biological or radiological attacks.

Rosie Winterton: From 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2007, 40,556 NHS staff have been trained to respond to major incidents, including CBRN incidents. This comprises of clinical and managerial NHS staff in hospital and community settings. Approximately, a further 2,500 ambulance personnel have also received CBRN training, including those working in London's hazardous area response team.

Child Alcohol Consumption

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the amount of alcohol consumed by children in the latest period for which figures are available.

Caroline Flint: The mean alcohol consumption of pupils who had drunk in the week prior to interview doubled from 5.3 units in 1990 to 11.4 units in 2000, and has fluctuated around this level since then.

Community Hospital Funding

Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding she plans to allocate to community hospitals and services in London in each of the next three years; and if she will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: Strategic health authorities are responsible for submitting prioritised bids for funding from the community hospitals and services programme. We are not yet able to say how much funding London will get from the programme as this will depend both on the nature of the bids that are submitted by London SHA, as well as the bids submitted by other SHAs. To date we have agreed to fund three schemes in the London SHA area totalling £10.64 million and there are no bids from London outstanding from previous waves.

NHS Nurses

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to improve the retention of nurses in the NHS.

Rosie Winterton: The recent framework, 'Securing and retaining staff for health and social care—a partnership approach', outlines steps to improve retention generally in the NHS. The framework developed by NHS Employers requires close partnership working between employers (across health and social care), staff side and higher education institutions.

Acute Services

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the recent changes to acute services in England.

Andy Burnham: Any changes to acute services are a matter for the national health service locally. Services are changing for the benefit of patients and receiving more investment. The NHS is changing because medicines and treatments are constantly changing.

Mixed Sex Wards

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS trusts in England use mixed sex wards.

Rosie Winterton: This information is not collected centrally. Our guidance calls for single sex accommodation, not single sex wards. Good segregation can be achieved where men and women are cared for in single sex bays or rooms within the same ward.

Nursing

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent changes have been made in pay and conditions for nurses; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The most recent change is that the Government have accepted the recommendation of the Nursing and Other Health Professions Pay Review Body for a 2.5 per cent. uplift in pay this year, subject to implementing the increase in two stages in April and November.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the evidential basis is for the conclusion of her Department's National Director for Emergency Access that an acute hospital with a catchment population of between 400,000 and 500,000 people would be better able to deliver consultant-led services, as stated in his e-mail of 27 March to Dr. Mark Signy of Worthing and Southlands Hospital NHS Trust.

Caroline Flint: There is increasing consensus among professional bodies that a critical size of hospital is required to ensure that specialist facilities are available to treat all patients with emergency needs safely. While the actual populations hospitals will serve in the future will differ slightly across the country, in general they will need to serve larger populations than is currently the case. Different clinical specialties may also have different demands in terms of the number of cases required to maintain clinical expertise.
	In providing advice to any local area, I am confident that Sir George Alberti will have based his advice on ensuring and improving quality and safety of care for local people.
	Ultimately, it is a matter for the local national health service to ensure the provision of urgent and emergency care services, including accident and emergency facilities, that are responsive to people's needs. We have made it clear to the NHS that it should consider a range of factors in putting together any case for change and produce a clear business case before consultation begins.

Alzheimer's Disease: Easington

John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in the Easington constituency were diagnosed as suffering from Alzheimer's disease in each year since 2002.

Ivan Lewis: This information is not collected centrally.

Asthma

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital admissions for asthma sufferers there were in  (a) England,  (b) North Yorkshire and  (c) York and the Humber in the latest period for which figures are available.

Ivan Lewis: The number of finished consultant episodes (FCE) for England and Yorkshire and the Humber, where the primary diagnosis was asthma, are given for the year 2005-06 in the following table.
	
		
			   Number 
			 FCE in England 66,055 
			 FCE in North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire Strategic Health Authority 1,839 
			  Note: Finished consultant episodes are not headcounts, a patient may have more than one FCE within the year.

Asthma

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to ensure that people with asthma receive  (a) a written personal asthma action plan and  (b) regular asthma reviews.

Ivan Lewis: The new general medical services contract was launched in February 2003. The contract includes a specific "quality indicator" for treatment and care of people with asthma; based on:
	a register of patients diagnosed with, and prescribed drugs for, asthma,
	a record of patients aged eight years and over where diagnosis confirmed by spirometry or peak flow measurement; and
	a record of asthma review within past 15 months.
	It is the responsibility of local health bodies to ensure that patients living with asthma are offered care plans and regular reviews.

Asthma

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultations she has received on  (a) making local asthma specialists available across England,  (b) removing prescription charges for people with asthma and  (c) involving asthma sufferers in the design of services so that their needs are met appropriately; and whether she plans to implement these policies.

Ivan Lewis: I have received representations from Asthma UK, and from individuals, seeking to remove prescription charges for those with asthma, to involve those living with this condition in the design of local services, and to make asthma specialists available locally.
	We are currently undertaking a review of prescription charges and will be reporting the outcome before the summer recess. It is the responsibility of local health bodies to organise local services, and ensure the correct skill mix of health professionals, to meet the needs of those living with asthma.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what proportion of eligible women were seen within the 36-month standard for breast cancer screenings  (a) in England and  (b) in each breast screening unit in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(2)  what proportion of eligible women have been seen within the 36-month standard for breast cancer screenings in England in each year since 1997.

Rosie Winterton: The proportion of eligible women seen within the 36-month standard for breast screening is not collected centrally. However, as a one-off exercise, national health service cancer screening programmes requested data from the NHS breast screening programme on the percentage of local screening units achieving the 36-month national standard between screens for quarter four 2005-06 (January to March 2006).
	It found that in England, 68 per cent. of women were re-screened within the 36-month national standard and the average wait between screens was 36 months. The following table shows the average round length and the percentage of women re-screened within 36 months of their previous screening for each breast screening unit in England.
	
		
			  Breast screening unit  Average round length (months)  Percentage of screenings within 36 months of previous screening 
			 North Yorkshire 34 93 
			 Humberside 40 29 
			 Pennine 36 67 
			 Leeds Wakefield 37 38 
			 Doncaster 33 94 
			 Rotherham 35 84 
			 Sheffield 35 71 
			 Barnsley 35 99 
			 Nottingham 34 90 
			 North Nottinghamshire 35 91 
			 Lincolnshire 40 33 
			 South Derbyshire 36 80 
			 North Derbyshire 36 49 
			 Kettering 32 99 
			 Northampton 33 99 
			 Leicester 35 82 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 39 52 
			 Chelmsford and Colchester 38 60 
			 South Essex 34 73 
			 Epping 19 99 
			 West Suffolk 33 98 
			 Norfolk and Norwich 37 61 
			 Great Yarmouth and Waveney 36 73 
			 Peterborough 35 98 
			 King's Lynn 36 92 
			 Cambridge and Huntingdon 37 47 
			 East Suffolk 34 95 
			 South East London GCA 1 35 70 
			 South East London GCA 2 35 69 
			 North London EBA 35 66 
			 South West London HWA 38 44 
			 Barking Havering FBH 40 28 
			 West of London ECX 36 46 
			 Central and East London FLO 35 78 
			 Whipps Cross FWC 42 7 
			 Newcastle 38 50 
			 Gateshead 35 71 
			 North Tees 36 68 
			 Bolton 38 54 
			 Chester 32 99 
			 Crewe 35 97 
			 East Lancashire 35 86 
			 Greater Manchester 42 7 
			 Liverpool 36 66 
			 Macclesfield 41 21 
			 North Cumbria 35 97 
			 North Lancashire 45 11 
			 Warrington 35 96 
			 Wigan 37 56 
			 Wirral 35 96 
			 Windsor 32 99 
			 West Berkshire 35 66 
			 Aylesbury 28 100 
			 Milton Keynes 33 99 
			 Wycombe 27 100 
			 Oxford 37 74 
			 North and Mid Hampshire 34 58 
			 Isle of Wight 33 99 
			 Southampton and Salisbury 36 64 
			 Portsmouth 40 11 
			 Worthing 40 56 
			 Jarvis Centre, Guildford 33 92 
			 Brighton 34 83 
			 Kent Programme 41 30 
			 Avon 44 18 
			 Gloucestershire 35 84 
			 Wiltshire 35 95 
			 Dorset 35 98 
			 Somerset 35 98 
			 Cornwall 34 64 
			 East Devon 45 8 
			 South Devon 37 82 
			 West Devon 40 26 
			 City Hospital 35 97 
			 Dudley and Wolverhampton 34 98 
			 Hereford and Worcester 33 98 
			 North Staffordshire 35 98 
			 Shropshire 39 49 
			 South Birmingham 34 98 
			 South Staffordshire 38 71 
			 Walsall and Sandwell 34 99 
			 Warwickshire, Solihull and Coventry 34 96 
		
	
	The NHS Cancer Plan, published in 2000, stated that we would extend invitations for breast screening to women aged 65 to 70 and introduce two-view mammography at all screening rounds. Thanks to the efforts of the staff in the screening programme, these targets have now been achieved in all local breast screening units. The expansion is already showing an effect, with nearly 12,000 cancers diagnosed by the programme in 2004-05, an increase of 40 per cent. on 2001 when the expansion began.
	However, the changes together represent a 40 per cent. increase in the workload of the programme. We are aware that this has had an impact on some services maintaining the three-year interval for screening and we are taking steps to bring all screening intervals back to three years.
	We take the issue of the 36-month standard between screens very seriously. That is why Professor Mike Richards, the National Cancer Director, wrote to the chief executives of all 10 strategic health authorities in England on 9 February 2007 highlighting the importance of maintaining the 36-month interval.

Consultants

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 7 December 2006 to the hon. Member for North West Cambridgeshire,  Official Report, column 671W, on consultants, for what reasons her Department does not collect information from the NHS on expenditure on external consultants.

Andy Burnham: The Department is committed to ensuring the value of information collected fully justifies the cost of collection, while also ensuring that information required to manage the service, monitor performance and measure activity within the national health service is available. As priorities change, statistical collections are reviewed and may be dropped or revised, or new collections may be implemented.
	The Information Centre for health and social care is responsible for the regulation of all requests for information from the national health service by the Department, its associated arms length bodies, other public bodies and the private sector. The Information Centre's review of central returns process ensures that central collections of information are appropriate to their purpose, do not duplicate existing collections, and minimise the burden on the NHS in submitting the data.

Departments: Communication

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will place in the Library a copy of the Permanent Secretary's communications plans, referred to on page 26 of her Department's 2007-08 Business Plan, published on 30 March.

Ivan Lewis: The Permanent Secretary's Communications Plan is currently in development.

Departments: Private Finance Initiative

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total value of private finance initiative projects included in her Department's balance sheet  (a) is in 2007 and  (b) was in each of the last five years, broken down by project.

Andy Burnham: A small number of national health service private finance initiative (PFI) schemes are regarded under accounting standards as on balance sheet. These are listed as follows; 100 per cent. of the capital value of these schemes and the corresponding liabilities are on the NHS's balance sheet.
	
		
			  On balance sheet PFIs 
			  £000 
			  NHS body  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Teignbridge Primary Care Trust 0 2,601 2,722 2,098 2,024 
			 Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust 34,262 38,484 41,770 44,562 44,853 
			 Queen Mary's Sidcup NHS Trust 5,454 6,100 6,820 4,500 5,410 
			 Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust 57,700 (1)— 46,820 35,306 34,893 
			 Oxleas NHS Trust 8,444 15,306 16,267 17,612 17,153 
			 Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust 0 115,245 115,264 114,909 143,930 
			 (1) Not stated.  Source: Audited summarisation schedules of the relevant NHS bodies 2001-02 to 2005-06

Doctors: Manpower

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how workforce planning for doctors in the National Health Service is undertaken; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 15 May 2007,  Official Report, column 736W.

Food: Hygiene

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what successful prosecutions for bio-security failures, which are not the subject of continuing legal proceedings, there have been since 2001.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 10 May 2007
	 Within its area of responsibility the Food Standards Agency has brought six successful prosecutions since 2001 in relation to failures of food waste handling at approved slaughterhouses and cutting plants for breaches of the Animal By-Products Regulations 2003, the Animal By-Product (Identification) Regulations 1995 and the Poultry Meat, Farmed Game Bird Meat and Rabbit Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995.

Health Professions: Training

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what reviews related to Modernising Medical Careers are under way in her Department; and when each is due to report its findings.

Rosie Winterton: A review into Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) recruitment and selection into specialty training made through the Medical Training and Application Service (MTAS) in 2007 is being led by Professor Neil Douglas, vice-chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The review will report when the work is completed—the timetable for which is under discussion.
	An independent review chaired by Professor Sir John Tooke, Dean of the Peninsula Medical School, chair of the Council of Heads of Medical Schools and chair of the United Kingdom Health Education Advisory Committee, will examine the processes underlying MMC and make recommendations to Ministers to ensure that we can implement any necessary improvements for 2008 and beyond. The review will report on an interim basis in September 2007, but the final report date for the review has yet to be determined.

Hospitals: Mobile Phones

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice her Department has issued to hospitals on the use of mobile phones on hospital premises.

Andy Burnham: To date, the Department has issued two pieces of advice to the national health service on the use of mobile phones in health care premises in the form of good practice guidance. A first set of guidance was issued in August 2006, following a request by Ofcom. The set piece of guidance was issued in May 2007, following a recommendation by the Patient Power review group.
	The guidance issued in May 2007 is available on the Department's website at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4138658
	Copies have also been placed in the Library.

Hospitals: Waiting Lists

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average hospital waiting times were in  (a) Cornwall and  (b) England, broken down by speciality function in (i) 1992, (ii) 1997 and (iii) 2007 to date.

Andy Burnham: The figures are shown in the table.
	
		
			  Commissioner based waiting time information for Cornwall and England, by consultant specialty 
			  Median waiting time (weeks) 
			   June 1993  March 1997  March 2007 
			   Cornwall and Isles of Scilly district health authority  England  Cornwall and Isles of Scilly district health authority  England  Cornwall and Isles of Scilly district health authority  England 
			 All specialties 16.8 15.9 12.9 13.2 7.0 6.2 
			 General surgery 15.0 15.3 10.6 13.1 7.2 6.0 
			 Urology 16.6 13.0 11.4 11.5 6.1 5.1 
			 Trauma and orthopaedics 16.5 19.2 13.5 17.6 7.4 8.2 
			 Ear, nose and throat 19.4 16.9 15.0 14.1 8.2 6.6 
			 Ophthalmology 19.7 18.8 17.7 16.1 7.2 5.3 
			 Oral surgery 14.9 18.0 12.3 13.6 7.4 7.0 
			 Neurosurgery n/a 15.0 n/a 14.7 8.9 6.9 
			 Plastic surgery 21.8 20.6 14.7 16.7 9.4 6.8 
			 Cardiothoracic surgery n/a 16.7 13.3 17.6 n/a 5.0 
			 Gastroenterology n/a 8.7 9.8 7.9 n/a 2.8 
			 Cardiology n/a 11.8 14.6 12.5 4.6 4.7 
			 Dermatology n/a 9.8 n/a 9.9 5.2 4.7 
			 Gynaecology 15.7 12.2 13.0 10.9 7.2 5.9 
			  Notes: 1. Data for Cornwall not available prior to June 1993. Figures for Cornwall shown for the organisation in existence at the time. 2. Specialties where the total number waiting is less than 100 are marked as n/a because this number is too small for a statistically meaningful median to be calculated. Only specialties recorded by Cornwall included in the table.  Source: Department of Health, QF01

Members: Correspondence

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she will answer the letter from the hon. Member for Billericay dated 29 March, on professional indemnity insurance for independent midwives.

Ivan Lewis: A reply was sent on 14 May 2007.

Ministerial Visits

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many times she has visited health services in the East Riding of Yorkshire since taking up her post; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: My right Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has not visited health services in the East Riding of Yorkshire since taking up her post.

MRSA

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of MRSA were contracted in NHS facilities in the period  (a) 1987 to 1997 and  (b) 1997 to 2007; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not available.

National Media Evaluations

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 14 March 2007,  Official Report, column 442W, on national media evaluations, if she will place in the Library copies of her Department's national media coverage evaluations in each month from July 2005 to December 2005 inclusive; and if she will publish the evaluations on her Department's website.

Ivan Lewis: The Department's national media evaluation coverage from July 2005 to December 2005 was published on the Department's website in August 2006. However, the Department recently moved to a new content management system to manage its website. The site holds 22,000 pages and 28,000 attachments, so much of the content was moved from the old system to the new one by an automatic process. Although this generally went well, there were some small technical difficulties which resulted in these media evaluation reports being inadvertently missed. This has been rectified and the reports have been placed in the Library and are also available at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Freedomofinformationpublicationschemefeedback/Classesofinformation/Communicationsresearch/index.htm
	Additionally, the January to July 2006 media evaluation reports will shortly be published on the website and when this happens we will arrange for hard copies to be placed in the Library.

NHS: Statistics

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the definitions are of  (a) general and personal medical services,  (b) medical and dental workforce census and  (c) non-medical workforce census as used in the NHS hospital and community staff and general workforce statistics.

Andy Burnham: The three workforce censuses are collected annually on 30 September for England. They cover:
	General and personal medical services—records numbers and details of general practitioners (GPs) (contracted to the national health service) along with information on their practices, staff, patients and the services they provide. The figures exclude GP locums.
	Medical and dental workforce census—qualified doctors and dentists in England (excluding GPs and high street dentists) employed by the NHS in hospital and community services. The census records details of staff (e.g. location, sex, age, ethnicity, country of primary medical qualification) and the area they work in (grade and specialty).
	The data relate to staff holding permanent paid and/or honorary appointments that involve a degree of clinical work in the NHS hospital services and community health services. Numbers of staff holding either directly employed locum appointments or agency locum appointments are not collected in the census.
	Non-medical workforce census—non-medical staff, i.e. excluding medical or dental doctors, employed by the NHS in hospital and community services.
	The census records details of staff (e.g. location, age, sex, ethnicity) along with their occupation code which identifies:
	each member of staff's main functional group (e.g. ambulance; nursing etc.);
	the level of qualification (e.g. within nursing—midwifery; health visiting staff etc.); and
	their area of work (e.g. acute, elderly and general; paediatric; school nursing).

Ritalin

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people taking methylphenidate drugs experienced adverse drug reactions in each year between 1997 and 2006.

Caroline Flint: Methylphenidate is a stimulant drug that is authorised in children over six years of age as part of a comprehensive treatment programme for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Treatment should be under the supervision of a specialist in childhood behavioural disorders. Its safety is closely monitored by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in conjunction with other European regulatory authorities.
	Reports of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are collected by the MHRA and Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) through the spontaneous reporting scheme, the Yellow Card Scheme. The Yellow Card Scheme provides a system for early detection of emerging drug safety hazards and routine monitoring for all medicines in clinical use.
	Between January 1997 and December 2006 a total of 488 reports of suspected ADRs have been received in association with methylphenidate treatment. The reactions that were most commonly reported were recognised side effects that are listed in the product information for prescribers and patients or reactions that may be part of the underlying condition. The following table shows the number of reports received in association with methylphenidate each year between 1997 and 2006.
	
		
			  Year received by the MHRA  Number of reports listing methylphenidate as a suspect drug 
			 1997 22 
			 1989 23 
			 1999 28 
			 2000 39 
			 2001 50 
			 2002 59 
			 2003 102 
			 2004 65 
			 2005 90 
			 2006 95 
		
	
	When interpreting spontaneous reporting data, such as the data received through the Yellow Card Scheme, there are a number of factors that need to be considered including that:
	the reporting of a reaction does not necessarily mean that it is related to the drug; it may be difficult to tell the difference between something that has occurred naturally or as a result of the underlying disease rather than being caused by the medicine;
	the number of reports received in association with a medicine should not be used as a basis for determining the incidence of adverse drug reactions; this is because we have limited information about how many people have taken the medicine without experiencing a reaction; and
	the level of ADR reporting may fluctuate between given years due to a variety of reasons including media interest/publicity surrounding the medicine and variations in exposure to the medicine.

Smoking: Religious Buildings

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether her Department has carried out an assessment of the  (a) prevalence and  (b) risk to public health of smoking in churches and other places of worship; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The evidence of the risk to health from exposure to second-hand smoke is well established, regardless of the type of premises where people might be exposed. For this reason, the smoke free provisions of the Health Act 2006 will prohibit smoking in virtually all enclosed public places and work places in England from 1 July 2007, including in places of worship. The English legislation is in line with that already in place in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Department has not carried out a specific assessment of the prevalence of smoking in churches.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what elements she expects to be included in the new settlement in social care referred to by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Care Services in the web discussion for the Disability Rights Commission; what meetings  (a) she and  (b) her Ministers have had to discuss the new settlement, and with whom; whether a national consultation will take place on the new settlement; and when she expects the new settlement to be in place.

Ivan Lewis: The Government have provided significant investment in local services, including in the area of social care, since taking office. Total government grant has increased by 39 per cent. in real terms since 1997 and this has delivered real improvements, with the Commission for Social Care Inspection reporting that social care services for adults have improved for the fourth successive year. We are committed to ensuring that local authorities can continue to deliver effective local services. We are working with local government representatives to identify future pressures on local authorities, and the ways in which these can best be managed, as part of the Comprehensive spending review (CSR) 2007.
	As is normal in the run up to any Government spending review, the Secretary of State and her Ministers hold regular internal meetings to plan the new settlement.
	The Government believe it is important that the 2007 CSR is informed by wide public debate on the long-term challenges facing the United Kingdom. Across Government, the public are being engaged on a wide range of issues related to the CSR. In social care, the consultation 'Your Health, Your Care, Your Say' provided an opportunity to hear the views of the public of the priorities for their local health and social care services.
	As the Chancellor announced in Budget 2007, the CSR settlement will be published this autumn, and will set public spending levels for 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Social Workers: Medical Records

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether social workers are able to access patient records.

Caroline Flint: Initiatives such as the single assessment process (SAP) for older people, and the developing common assessment framework for adults, increasingly require health and social care services to share personal information about individuals receiving joined-up care, both as part of the commissioning process and to ensure that needs are addressed and that effort is not duplicated.
	A patient's records may be disclosed to social workers working as part of a multidisciplinary care team where they need to have them to provide effective joined-up care, providing the patient has been informed that this may occur and has given express consent, or has not objected or expressed concern. Registered social workers are subject to a code of practice that requires them to respect a person's confidential information. Breaching the code can lead to their removal from the Social Care Register.
	The practice expected of national health service organisations in facilitating these arrangements is set out in the document "Confidentiality: NHS Code of Practice" published in November 2003. The code recognises that social workers are frequently involved in providing care for national health service patients and that sharing health information with them should be an essential part of providing joined-up services for patients.
	Arrangements for sharing personal information with social care staff have included the development of local information sharing protocols. These are agreements between an individual NHS body and a council with social services responsibilities on how an individual's data may be shared between them. These agreements are based on well known data protection principles and make clear under what conditions or circumstances a person's data may be shared. All care employers are subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998.
	Where the NHS care records service is supporting SAP as an initial step in establishing joint services that contribute to the patient record, information sharing will be possible on the basis of implied consent subject to the requirements outlined above. Where SAP is supported by other systems, whether paper or electronic, explicit consent will normally be required and it will additionally be necessary to ensure that there are appropriate safeguards in place to protect patient confidentiality.
	These arrangements are currently being supported by some 46 electronic SAP systems, and over 50 community patient record systems that have been delivered through the national programme for information technology, accessible by an estimated 114,000 authorised NHS users. These figures are continuing to grow rapidly.

Spinal Injuries

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many single treatment episodes of people with spinal injuries took place in each of the last 10 years.

Ivan Lewis: The number of finished consultant episodes, where the patient had a primary or secondary diagnosis of spinal injury, for the last 10 years are given in the following table.
	
		
			  Finished consultant episodes—England 
			   Number 
			 2005-06 21,308 
			 2004-05 19,451 
			 2003-04 18,079 
			 2002-03 16,717 
			 2001-02 14,965 
			 2000-01 14,652 
			 1999-2000 15,072 
			 1998-99 14,808 
			 1997-98 15,036 
			 1996-97 14,877 
		
	
	These are counts of finished consultant episodes, not the number of patients treated.

Spinal Injuries

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people with spinal injuries were admitted as accident and emergency patients in each of the last 10 years for which records are available.

Ivan Lewis: The number of hospital admission episodes, where the patient had a primary or secondary spinal injury, and were admitted via accident and emergency (A&E), in the last 10 years is given in the following table.
	
		
			  Finished episodes in year—admissions via A&E 
			   Number 
			 2005-06 11,861 
			 2004-05 11,185 
			 2003-04 10,460 
			 2002-03 9,815 
			 2001-02 8,951 
			 2000-01 9,086 
			 1999-2000 9,456 
			 1998-99 9,297 
			 1997-98 9,370 
			 1996-97 9,386 
			  Note: This is a count of episodes (not patients) where the patient was admitted to hospital via A&E. Patients who attended accident and emergency, but were not admitted to hospital, are not included.

St. Albans

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Minister for Delivery and Reform in her Department next plans to visit St. Albans in an official capacity.

Andy Burnham: I have no current plans to visit St. Albans in an official capacity.

Streptococcus: Screening

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the danger to pregnant women posed by infection with group B streptococcus; what plans she has  (a) to introduce a national screening programme for pregnant women and  (b) to raise awareness of infection among (i) women and (ii) health care professionals; what assessment she has made of the indicative reliability of (A) a high vaginal swab and (B) the enrichment culture method test; and what plans she has to make the enrichment culture method test available to women free at the point of demand on the NHS.

Ivan Lewis: The current position is that routine screening of group B streptococcus (GBS) should not be offered to all pregnant women. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guideline on antenatal care states that pregnant women should not be offered routine antenatal screening for GBS because evidence of its clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness remains uncertain.
	Information for women is now in the Pregnancy Book and on NHS Direct Online. The Royal College of Gynaecologists and the charity Group B Strep Support (GBSS) also publish information for women. The UK National Screening Committee has commissioned an electronic learning resource for health care professionals from the National Electronic Library for Health to promote the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' guideline on "Prevention of Early Onset Neonatal Group B Streptococcal Disease".
	A proposal for NICE to appraise the use of an enriched culture medium for the detection of GBS carriage in a subset of pregnant women with clinical risk factors has been submitted on behalf of the UK National Screening Committee's GBS Co-ordinating Group and is under consideration.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum: Children

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ensure that any new proposals for charging arrangements relating to the treatment of children entering the UK and applying for asylum status are not implemented prior to debate in the House following the end of the consultation period currently underway.

Liam Byrne: holding answer 9 May 2007
	 The consultation paper that we published on 1 March: "Planning Better Outcomes and Support for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children", outlined a number of changes to immigration and support arrangements for these young people. Some of these changes are already being progressed following consultation with the relevant stakeholders. An example is an improved and faster process for determining their asylum claims. The paper proposes further reforms, including plans to locate greater numbers of the young people outside the south-east of England. The consultation period ends on 31 May. We will consider carefully all responses to the consultation and the most appropriate way to set out our conclusions and plans for implementation.

Asylum: Somalia

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the risk faced by a member of the minority Reer Hamar clan in Somalia of persecution in that country; and what account is taken of that risk assessment in determining claims for asylum by members of the Reer Hamar clan in the United Kingdom.

Liam Byrne: The situation in Somalia including the position of the Rer Hamar minority group is monitored closely from a wide range of recognised and publicly disclosable governmental, non governmental and human rights sources. Asylum decision makers carefully assess the protection needs of each asylum applicant in accordance with our international obligations and against the background of this country information. While it is accepted that some individuals of the Rer Hamar group will be able to demonstrate a need for international protection, it is not considered that each and every member of this group who applies for asylum will demonstrate a need for international protection.

Asylum: Sudan

Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department takes to assess claims of Darfuri African ethnicity by those seeking asylum in the UK.

Liam Byrne: All applications for asylum including those from Sudanese nationals of Darfuri origin are considered on a case-by-case basis in accordance with our international obligations and relevant jurisprudence and taking into account the latest available country information.

Asylum: Suicide

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers have committed suicide in the UK before being deported in the last five years.

Liam Byrne: The information requested is not collated centrally.

British Nationality: Correspondence

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) items of correspondence and  (b) other representations his Department and its agencies have received from (i) hon. and right hon. Members and Peers and (ii) others on British citizenship for those born to British mothers and foreign fathers before 1961.

Liam Byrne: The Border and Immigration Agency has received 5,145 letters from hon. and right hon. Members and peers on issues relating to nationality issues since August 2004, the earliest date that records are available. No information is available on the specific subject matters raised by members.
	No information is available on the volume of correspondence received from others or whether the correspondence related to individuals born before 1961.

Burglary: Suffolk

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many bogus caller incidents were recorded in Suffolk in each of the last five years.

Vernon Coaker: The available information relates to recorded offences of distraction burglary. The Home Office has published statistics since 2003-04 and statistics for Suffolk are provided in the following table.
	
		
			  Recorded offences of distraction burglary in Suffolk 
			   Number of offences 
			 2003-04 94 
			 2004-05 106 
			 2005-06 112

Crime: Business

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to tackle crime against business.

Vernon Coaker: Since 2004 the Home Office has provided more than £1 million of funding to the Action Against Business Crime Group (AABC) to set up 120 new business crime reduction partnerships in towns and cities across England and Wales. It has also, in partnership with stakeholders, produced a booklet to enable businesses to undertake a crime prevention survey of their premises. More than 125,000 copies of this booklet have so far been printed and distributed. A set of top tips postcards have also been produced giving more general advice to retailers and others on how to reduce the risk of being a victim of crime.
	A new strand of the forthcoming Crime Reduction Strategy will include a renewed focus on working with business to see what more can be done to tackle crime problems.
	Measures will be taken to raise the profile of business crime among Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) by highlighting the need to tackle this in the Public Service Agreement Delivery Plan. The Home Office will also seek to raise the profile of crime against businesses, to ensure that CDRPs consult and engage with the business community as part of their wider community consultation to identify local priorities.
	Neighbourhood policing has been introduced across England and Wales to deal with low-level crime and antisocial behaviour and in some communities this will include, for example, Police Community Support Officers working in partnership with local businesses.

Departments: Delivery Unit

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which projects in his Department the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit has assessed in the last 12 months.

Liam Byrne: In the last 12 months, the PMDU has carried out joint reviews with the Home Office on a range of projects. These include:
	Asset Recovery
	Removal of Asylum Seekers and Other Immigration Offenders
	Strengthening the New Borders and Immigration Agency
	Antisocial Behaviour
	Reducing Reoffending
	Citizen Focused Policing
	Respect
	Neighbourhood Policing
	Reducing Crime (PSA 1)
	High Crime Causing Drug Users
	National Offender Management
	Non-Custodial Sentences and
	The Department's Capability Review

Departments: Departmental Reorganisation

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what effect he expects the forthcoming reorganisation of his Department to have on the allocation and organisation of Government buildings; and if he will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: In accordance with normal practice for machinery of Government changes responsibility for those buildings wholly occupied by Home Office staff transferring to the Ministry of Justice will also be transferred. Arrangements for the small number of buildings that will be shared between the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice will be managed in accordance with normal practice for jointly occupied buildings that form part of the Government's civil estate.

Departments: India

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which Ministers in his Department have visited India in the last 12 months; on how many occasions each Minister visited India; and what the length was of each visit.

Liam Byrne: This Government publish an annual list of Cabinet Ministers' travel overseas costing over £500 along with the total cost of all ministerial travel. Information for 2005-06 was published on 24 July 2006 and is available in the Library of the House. Information for 2006-07 will be published as soon as it is ready.
	All travel is in accordance with the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers.

Departments: Paper

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of paper used  (a) for photocopying and  (b) in printed publications by his Department was from recycled sources in each of the last three years.

Liam Byrne: The Home Office is committed to meeting the current cross-Government sustainable operations targets which includes paper recycling rates. It is also committed to meeting the mandatory minimum environmental procurement product standards which include paper standards.
	During the last three years all paper used by the main Home Office for photocopying was from recycled sources. We hold no information on the percentage of recycled paper used in printed publications in 2004-05, but for 2005-06 and 2006-07 respectively the figures were 6 per cent. and 25 per cent. Since late 2006 the Home Office has been using recycled paper for all of its printed publications.

Driving Under Influence

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drink driving tests were carried out in each police authority in 2004.

Vernon Coaker: Information on the number of tests carried out is provided in the following table:
	
		
			  Screening breath tests, by police force area 2004( 1) , England and Wales 
			  Police force area  Total tests 
			 Avon and Somerset 27,300 
			 Bedfordshire 7,800 
			 Cambridgeshire 12,300 
			 Cheshire 20,200 
			 Cleveland 8,100 
			 Cumbria 8,400 
			 Derbyshire 31,000 
			 Devon and Cornwall 10,700 
			 Dorset 7,000 
			 Durham 6,100 
			 Essex 25,300 
			 Gloucestershire 7,100 
			 Greater Manchester 19,900 
			 Hampshire 38,400 
			 Hertfordshire 7,300 
			 Humberside 5,600 
			 Kent 32,000 
			 Lancashire 10,200 
			 Leicestershire 15,400 
			 Lincolnshire 11,300 
			 London, City of 700 
			 Merseyside 5,000 
			 Metropolitan Police 61,500 
			 Norfolk 4,800 
			 Northamptonshire 3,200 
			 Northumbria 9,800 
			 North Yorkshire 8,600 
			 Nottinghamshire 8,200 
			 South Yorkshire 6,500 
			 Staffordshire 13,700 
			 Suffolk 10,600 
			 Surrey 9,500 
			 Sussex 15,200 
			 Thames Valley 15,400 
			 Warwickshire 5,500 
			 West Mercia 8,000 
			 West Midlands 6,600 
			 West Yorkshire 16,900 
			 Wiltshire 7,400 
			 Dyfed-Powys 6,700 
			 Gwent 1,600 
			 North Wales 24,200 
			 South Wales 16,700 
			 Total 577,600 
			 (1) Following a comparison between the number of positive breath tests reported by each police force in 2004 and the number of court proceedings for drink/driving related offences, it became clear that there was under-reporting in a number of forces. As a result Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Dyfed-Powys, Gwent and South Wales, court proceedings figures have been substituted for the positive breath test figures. Similar adjustments were also made to various forces data between 1998 and 2003.  Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Entry Clearances

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what studies have been undertaken for the purpose of reducing the cost of processing in-country applications.

Liam Byrne: The Home Office is committed to controlling the underlying costs for processing in-country immigration and nationality applications. The Border and Immigration Agency has taken forward a number of operational reviews across the business following the recommendations of the Gershon Review and to secure continuous improvement in business processes. We intend to continue this programme to deliver better service for applicants and reduce operating costs. Overall, the Home Office has exceeded its target to achieve Value for Money improvements to the value of £1,970 million, of which £1,240 million is cashable by 2007-08. That includes £551 million savings made in the Border and Immigration Agency.

Forensic Science

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications were received for the position of crime scene investigator in England and Wales in each of the last three years; and what proportion were successful.

Tony McNulty: The information requested is not collected centrally in the police personnel statistics. The recruitment of police officers and police staff is an operational matter for individual chief constables.

Illegal Immigrants: Employment

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what penalties are applicable to those convicted of illegally employing migrant labour.

Liam Byrne: It is a criminal offence under section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 to employ a person, aged 16 or over, who is subject to immigration control and who is not entitled to be in the UK or to undertake the employment in question. There is no upper limit to the level of fine that can be imposed on employers if convicted on indictment.

Immigration: Applications

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department plans to inform Mrs. Fouzia Ilyas (reference J1072668) of the outcome of her application for leave to remain in the United Kingdom.

Liam Byrne: I wrote to the hon. Member on 4 May 2007.

Immigration: Detention Centres

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times  (a) the police and  (b) ambulances were called to (i) Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre, (ii) Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre, (iii) Dover Immigration Removal Centre, (iv) Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre, (v) Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre, (vi) Haslar Immigration Removal Centre, (vii) Lindholme, (viii) Oakington, (ix) Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centre and (x) Yarls Wood Immigration Removal Centre in the last year for which figures are available.

Liam Byrne: Removal centres are not required to record the number of occasions when either the police or ambulances have been called. The police attend centres as part of the liaison in cooperating over security information and ambulances would be called to centres only in cases of emergency.

Members: Correspondence

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the oral answer from the Prime Minister of 7 February 2007,  Official Report, column 836, on engagements, when he expects to address the case of Mr. Gary Douglas, a constituent of the hon. Member for Cheltenham, and respond to the hon. Member's letter of 11 April; and what the reason is for the time taken to do so.

Liam Byrne: holding answer 2 May 2007
	I wrote to the hon. Member on 25 April 2007. I will write separately in response to his letter of 11 April 2007.

Migrant Workers

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many responses were received to the consultation with stakeholders on the points-based system for migrant workers; how many were  (a) in favour and  (b) against the system; and if he will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: My Department has received 517 written responses spread across national, regional and sector-specific stakeholders. No single question asked if respondents were  (a) in favour or  (b) against the system.
	The full results can be found on the Border and Immigration Agency website:
	www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/6353/aboutus/pointsbasedsystemconsultati1.pdf

Offenders: Deportation

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders who were deported in 2006 have subsequently been found to have re-entered the UK.

Liam Byrne: The information could be obtained by the detailed examination of individual case records only at disproportionate cost.

Police

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 15 March 2007,  Official Report, column 546W, on police, whether the position of Chief Constable has been filled in  (a) Lancashire,  (b) Durham and  (c) North Yorkshire; when interviews will be held for posts in (i) Staffordshire and (ii) Sussex; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: Stephen Finnigan was appointed Chief Constable of Lancashire on 23 March 2007, Jon Stoddart was appointed Chief Constable of Durham on 28 March 2007 and Grahame Maxwell was appointed Chief Constable of North Yorkshire on 16 May 2007. Interviews for the post of Chief Constable of Staffordshire will be held on 11 and 12 July 2007, and interviews for the post of Chief Constable of Sussex will be held on 25 July.

Prisoners: Foreigners

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 16 April 2007,  Official Report, columns 483-84W, on prisoners: foreigners 
	(1)  how many of the non-EU foreign nationals as at  (a) 30 June 2005,  (b) 30 June 2006 and  (c) 28 February 2007 have been sent back to their country of origin;
	(2)  what percentage of the prison population of non-EU foreign nationals referred to in the answer were sent back to their country of origin before the termination of their sentence.

Liam Byrne: holding answer 14 May 2007
	The information requested is unavailable and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. On 19 February the chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency wrote to the Home Affairs Committee to provide the most recent information available on the deportation of foreign national prisoners.
	A copy of this letter is available from the Library of the House.

Serious Organised Crime Agency: Prosecutions

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have been brought in each major city in the United Kingdom by the Serious Organised Crime Agency since its launch.

Vernon Coaker: SOCA is not itself a prosecuting body, but its work often results in prosecutions in the UK or overseas. Investigatory work to prepare for such prosecutions may be done directly by SOCA, or by one or more of SOCA's partners with SOCA support. Prosecutions in the UK are taken either by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) or the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office (RCPO). The venue for the prosecution is not necessarily where the offences took place.
	Figures are available for prosecutions taken in the UK during 2006-07 as a result of SOCA led investigations, which are set out in the following table. These do not include prosecutions taken overseas or in the UK as a result of work carried out by partners with SOCA input.
	
		
			  City  Total 
			 Belfast 1 
			 Birmingham 13 
			 Bolton 2 
			 Bournemouth 1 
			 Bristol 8 
			 Cardiff 2 
			 Carlisle 1 
			 Chelmsford 3 
			 Derby 4 
			 Dover 1 
			 Dundee 2 
			 Edinburgh 1 
			 Essex 1 
			 Glasgow 2 
			 Guildford 3 
			 Hove 5 
			 Hull 1 
			 Leeds 8 
			 Leicester 9 
			 Lewes 1 
			 Liverpool 24 
			 London 89 
			 Maidstone 1 
			 Manchester 13 
			 Newcastle 14 
			 Northampton 5 
			 Nottingham 8 
			 Oldham 6 
			 Plymouth 1 
			 Portsmouth 1 
			 Reading 6 
			 Sheffield 9 
			 Shrewsbury 1 
			 St. Albans 6 
			 Stafford 3 
			 Stranraer 1 
			 Teesside 6 
			 Winchester 20 
			 Total 283

Vetting: Fees and Charges

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much revenue was raised in fees for clearance checks on those intending to work with children by the Criminal Records Bureau in the last year for which figures are available; and how much was charged per clearance check.

Joan Ryan: During the financial year 2006-07 a total of £64,434,255 has been raised in fees for clearance checks on those who had indicated on the application forms that the position involved working with children. During this period, standard disclosures were charged at £31.00 per check and enhanced disclosures were charged at £36.00 per check. The CRB announced a fee freeze in January 2007 and the these costs are what are currently charged. Applications for voluntary positions are processed free of charge.

Yarl's Wood Detention Centre

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has received from Serco for changes in the detention regime for women at Yarl's Wood in relation to  (a) locked room detention,  (b) access to mobile telephones and  (c) access to satellite television news.

Liam Byrne: holding answer 18 May 2007
	 The contractor operating Yarl's Wood, Serco has not made any proposals, nor do they seek to make proposals to introduce changes in the detention regime for women at Yarl's Wood. The regime will continue as previously with no detainees being locked up at night. They will continue to have access to mobile telephones and access to satellite television news.
	The re-tender of the contract required all bidders to meet a demanding operational specification which seeks to improve rather than reduce the service for detainees at Yarl's Wood.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Departments: Sovereign Strategy

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many meetings  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials from his Department held with Sovereign Strategy in each year between 1997 and 2006.

Hilary Benn: The information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

International Assistance: Group of Eight

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made in following up the Gleneagles commitments of  (a) the annual increase of gross national income (GNI) to overseas aid by G8 countries since the 2005 summit and  (b) the proportion of GNI being allocated to debt relief by those countries.

Hilary Benn: At the 2005 Gleneagles summit, the G8 and other donors committed to increasing Official Development Assistance (ODA) by $50 billion a year by 2010, compared to 2004. The summit also agreed a proposal to cancel the outstanding debts of eligible heavily indebted poor countries.
	Figures from 2006, the most recent year available, show that ODA from G8 countries was $75 billion, 0.26 per cent. of GNI. Debt relief from G8 countries as a proportion of GNI was 0.06 per cent. The following table shows total ODA, and ODA which was allocated as debt relief from G8 countries from the Gleneagles baseline year of 2004, to 2006.
	
		
			  ODA from G8 countries 
			  $ billion, constant 2004 prices 
			   2004  2005  2006 
			 Total ODA 57.6 79.3 72.3 
			  Of which:
			 Debt relief 3.5 19.6 15.7 
			  Source: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2007. 
		
	
	The UK was the second largest bilateral donor in 2006, with ODA reaching $12.6 billion, 0.52 per cent. of GNI. We are on track to reach 0.7 per cent. of ODA/GNI by 2013, two years ahead of the EU schedule of 2015.

JUSTICE

Appeals: Social Security Benefits

Mike Hancock: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice if she will put in place a mechanism to record details about the nature of medical conditions of people who attend benefit appeal tribunals, in order to ensure that people with  (a) chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis and  (b) other illnesses are not discriminated against; and if she will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Details of individual appellants' disabilities are not recorded when cases come before tribunals. However, the benefit type and the issue to be decided is recorded on the Tribunals Service processing system in all benefit cases.
	In the case of disability appeals involving medical issues, a medically qualified panel member sits as a member of the tribunal and all panel members have equality and diversity training to enable them to deal with the full range of disability issues arising from benefit claims. Judicial office holders who are members of appeals tribunals are independent of the administration.

Data Protection: Intelligence Services

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice when she expects the National Security Appeals Panel of the Information Tribunal to publish on its website the judgment of 28 July 2005; and what the reason is for the time taken to publish it.

Bridget Prentice: The Decision of the National Security Appeals Panel in the case of the Information Commissioner against the Secretary of State for the Home Department of the 28 July 2005, will not be appearing on the website. This is due to an Administrative Court order, obtained during the Judicial Review proceedings on 23 November 2006 that papers in the case, including a redacted version of the decision, would not be made public.

David Kelly

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice pursuant to the answer of 19 March 2007,  Official Report, column 620W, on David Kelly, if she will list  (a) the interested persons and  (b) the members of the press who were notified shortly beforehand; and what the time of notification was in each case.

Harriet Harman: I would refer the hon. Member to my previous reply. We do not have the names of the interested persons or details of the times when notification was made.

Disorder Penalty Notices

James Brokenshire: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice pursuant to the answer of 16 January 2007,  Official Report, columns 1027-28W, on Disorder Penalty Notices, when she expects the evaluation of the pilot undertaken in six police force areas for issuing penalty notices for disorder to 10 to 15 year olds to be completed; and if she will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The evaluation of the pilots undertaken in six police areas for issuing penalty notices for disorder to 10 to 15-year-olds was completed in November 2006 and is currently going through the final quality assurance procedures prior to publication.

Elections

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what discussions her Department has had with the Secretary of State for Scotland on the use of electronic voting for the May 2007 elections to the Scottish Parliament; and if she will make a statement.

Bridget Prentice: My Department has had no discussions with the Secretary of State for Scotland on the use of electronic voting for the May 2007 elections to the Scottish Parliament.

Offenders: Rehabilitation

Tom Watson: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of offender rehabilitation programmes at Moorland Open Prison in South Yorkshire, with particular reference to their effect on maintaining the West Coast Mainline railway; and if she will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Government have developed a range of offender programmes with a number of partners across the prison estate, including HMP Moorland, which are successfully tackling the root causes of re-offending and working to reduce social exclusion. Recently published figures show that we have reduced proven adult re-offending by 6.9 per cent. comparing 2004 to 1997.
	"Reducing Re-offending Through Skills and Employment: Next Steps" (December 2006) set out our plans to put in place an increased focus on training offenders and helping them get jobs. The initiative at HMP Moorland is part of that strategy.
	The West Coast rail scheme is a high quality practical based programme, paying a decent wage and providing close to release prisoners at Moorland, through a 12 week training programme including full safety training, with the rail industry specific NVQ level 2 qualification enabling them to work in the rail industry on release. Job vacancies in this sector have given rise to sustainable employment opportunities for prisoners, thereby reducing the likelihood of re-offending.

Paedophilia: Convictions

Jamie Reed: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice who is responsible for the management of convicted paedophiles within the community.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The responsibility for assessing and managing convicted child sex offenders in the community in England and Wales is shared by the police, probation and prison services acting as the Responsible Authority within the statutory Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), The Responsible Authority must work together with other agencies, such as local health, social, educational and housing services to produce and monitor a risk management plan. Generally speaking, the Probation Service would be the lead agency in carrying out the plan while the offender is subject to probation supervision and the Police would lead once any period of supervision has expired but the offender remains a registered sex offender.

Paedophilia: Convictions

Jamie Reed: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice in what ways offender management and sentencing policy protects the public from convicted paedophiles being managed within the community.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Government are committed to protecting the public and are determined to ensure there are robust arrangements for dealing with sex offenders in the community. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 created new sentences aimed specifically at sexual and violent offenders. These new sentences are designed to protect the public, and will ensure that dangerous sexual and violent offenders are subject to assessment by the parole board, and in serious cases not released from prison where their level of risk is deemed too high.
	Through Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA)—statutory requirements for the police, probation and prison services to co-operate in managing potentially dangerous offenders—the way in which child sex offenders are managed in the UK has been revolutionised. It is our intention to look carefully at how this can be built on and strengthened.
	Community Notification is an important tool which already exists within the current MAPPA system through the police and naturally we want to explore whether the lessons from other countries, might have value in the UK.
	The phased introduction of the NOMS Offender Management Model is improving the way in which sentences are organised and delivered across the probation and prison services, but paedophiles are already subject to robust arrangements.

Paedophilia: Convictions

Jamie Reed: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice which organisations have statutory duties in the monitoring of convicted paedophiles in the community.

Gerry Sutcliffe: There is a statutory requirement upon the police, probation and prison services, acting as the Responsible Authority in each of the 42 areas in England and Wales, to establish and monitor multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) in order to manage the risk posed by sexual and violent offenders. The Act also placed a range of other local agencies, such as health, educational, social and housing services, under a duty to co-operate with the Responsible Authority. The agencies work together to identify relevant offenders, share information, conduct more comprehensive risk assessments and therefore draw up better risk management plans. The plans are monitored via multi-agency meetings for as long as is required.
	Generally, the police or the probation service will have lead responsibility in monitoring the offender, with assistance from other agencies, although youth offending teams and supervising psychiatrists and social supervisors will take or share a lead monitoring role in some cases.

Paedophilia: Prisoners Release

Jamie Reed: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what guidelines apply to convicted paedophiles after release into the area where they committed an offence.

Gerry Sutcliffe: All convicted child sex offenders are liable to management under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). Most will be subject to notification requirements (sex offender registration) on release from prison, and those who were sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment or more will generally be subject to licence conditions, breach of which can lead to recall to prison. In addition, some may be subject to Sexual Offence Prevention Orders (SOPOs), which can be imposed where a court deems that the offender poses a risk of serious sexual harm. As with licence conditions, SOPOs can impose restrictions on behaviour, such as staying away from the victim or from schools. Breach of a SOPO is a criminal offence and would make the offender liable to a maximum of five years' imprisonment.
	The twin aims of the MAPPA are to protect the public and to prevent re-victimisation. While offenders will generally be released to their home area, where the offence may have been committed, consideration will be given to an exclusion zone, in the light of specific risks to the victim and also to the impact the return might have locally.

Paedophilia: Prisoners Release

Jamie Reed: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what offender management guidelines are provided to local authorities on housing homeless convicted paedophiles.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Local housing authorities are under a statutory duty to co-operate with Responsible Authority in the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). The Responsible Authority has to establish arrangements for the identification, assessment and management of sexual and violent offenders. The aim is to facilitate an exchange of information between the agencies and to ensure that the local housing authority is on hand to give advice about accommodation and the procedures by which it is allocated, and the suitability of particular housing stock both generally and in relation to particular cases.

Paedophilia: Re-offenders

Jamie Reed: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what the re-offending rate is for convicted paedophiles.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The re-offending rates for men who sexually abuse children are not known, but we do have information on re-conviction rates for this group of offenders.
	The most recent figures we have are for 2004.
	Out of the adult offenders who were convicted of a sexual offence against a child, and were released from custody or who started a community penalty in the first quarter of 2004, 12.3 per cent. were reconvicted of a new offence of any kind.
	These rates of re-conviction were over a period of two years.
	For all adult male offenders convicted of a sexual offence (that is including those who offended against a child and those who offended against adults) and who were released from custody in 2001, 3 per cent. were reconvicted for a further sexual offence within two years.

Paedophilia: Sentencing

Jamie Reed: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice when the Sentencing Guidelines Council and the Sentencing Advisory Panel last reviewed sentencing guidelines for convicted paedophiles.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Following wide consultation, the Sentencing Guidelines Council published definitive guidelines on the Sexual Offences Act 2003 on 30 April 2007.
	The guidelines cover a range of sexual offences, including offences involving children, and take into account the impact of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
	The full guidelines can be found on the Sentencing Guidelines Council Website at:
	http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/docs/82083-COI-SCG_final.pdf
	The section which relates to sexual offences involving children can be found in Part 3.

Prison Service: Working Hours

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what mechanisms exist to monitor compliance with  (a) health and safety regulations and  (b) European Working Time Directive requirements for operational prison governors; and if she will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: An audit of the health and safety performance of each prison is carried out every two years by health and safety advisers. The audit focuses on the procedures in place for implementing the requirements of health and safety legislation. A report is prepared for governors which include any deficiencies identified during the audit, the actions required to ensure compliance with legislation and Prison Service guidance and timescales for implementation. Additionally, governing governors are required to regularly monitor health and safety performance in their area of control.
	While prison governors are contracted to be "all hours worked", there is an expectation that they should work a notional 42-hour week. Obviously due to operational requirements they may be called upon to exceed this, but line managers are responsible for ensuring that staff do not regularly exceed working hours set out in the European working time directive.

Prisoners: Repatriation

Ian Taylor: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many non-UK citizens convicted of custodial offences are eligible to be repatriated to their home countries.

Gerry Sutcliffe: At the end of March 2007, the latest period for which data are available, 2,919 prisoners serving immediate custodial sentences gave their nationality as that of one of those countries with which the United Kingdom has a prisoner transfer arrangement. Of these around 2,000 prisoners appear to meet the basic criteria for repatriation. That is; they are a national of a country with which we have a prisoner transfer arrangement, their sentence is final and enforceable, and they have more than the relevant period left to serve as specified in the applicable international arrangement.
	Under our existing repatriation arrangements repatriation is a voluntary process and requires the consent of both states involved, as well as that of the prisoner concerned, before repatriation can take place.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system, and so although shown to the last individual, the figure may not be accurate to that level.
	The figures given relate to England and Wales only.

Prisoners: Repatriation

John Spellar: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice pursuant to the answer of 16 May 2007,  Official Report, column 808W, on prisoners: repatriation, when discussions have taken place with the representatives of which countries on the repatriation of their nationals from British prisons without the requirement for prisoners' consent.

Gerry Sutcliffe: In my answer of 16 May 2007,  Official Report, column 808W, I indicated that work is being undertaken to identify those countries with which we already have bilateral prisoner transfer arrangements who may be willing to renegotiate those arrangements to remove the requirement for prisoners to consent to transfer. This is in addition to the EU negotiations and those with the Council of Europe, which concern multi-party agreements. The work is being taken forward in conjunction with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Direct discussions with the governments concerned have not yet taken place.

Prisons: Video Games

David Davis: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how much the Prison Service spent on games for Sony playstations in each of the last three financial years for which figures are available.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Prison Service does not keep records of the amount spent on games for Sony Playstations.

Probation

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what percentage of eligible prisoners were interviewed and assessed by the Probation Service prior to release in the last 12 months.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The information requested is not held centrally and would incur a disproportionate cost.

Supreme Court: Buildings

Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what representations her Department received from private contractors on  (a) the refurbishment of Middlesex Guildhall and  (b) the construction of a new building to house the new Supreme Court.

Vera Baird: Five developers were involved in the bid process to carry out the renovation of Middlesex Guildhall. In 2004, Land Securities approached the Department with two options for a new build; Fetter Lane (near the Royal Courts of Justice) and Buckingham Gate. Fetter Lane was deemed too large for use as the Supreme Court and was taken up by HMCS. After detailed analysis, Buckingham Gate was ruled out because it offered a much less prestigious location at a higher cost.

Young Offender Institutions

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many  (a) boys and  (b) girls were held in young offender institutions in each of the last 10 years.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Information on the numbers of 15 to 17-year-olds within the prison population in England and Wales as at 30 June in each year between 1995 and 2006, can be found in the following table.
	No one under the age of 15 is held in Prison Service establishments.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	
		
			  Population of under 18s held in prison establishments by type of custody and sex( 1) , England and Wales 30 June 
			   1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006 
			  Males 
			  Aged 15 
			 Total 181 217 254 244 218 283 300 302 227 271 243 289 
			 Untried 34 35 46 48 29 35 41 33 29 37 38 32 
			 Convicted unsentenced 20 39 28 38 15 16 7 26 8 15 14 27 
			 Immediate custodial sentence 127 143 180 158 174 232 252 243 190 220 191 230 
			 Non-criminal — — — — — — — — — — — — 
			  Aged 16 
			 Total 453 582 643 675 639 664 704 753 661 639 685 726 
			 Untried 104 133 114 100 106 82 69 99 81 74 78 98 
			 Convicted unsentenced 51 64 57 83 49 32 29 55 40 43 43 36 
			 Immediate custodial sentence 298 385 472 492 484 550 606 599 540 522 563 592 
			 Non-criminal — — — — — — — — — — 1 — 
			  Aged 17 
			 Total 992 1,225 1,511 1,468 1,479 1,398 1,340 1,434 1,288 1,288 1,326 1,423 
			 Untried 260 304 297 286 285 242 182 183 206 211 210 250 
			 Convicted unsentenced 200 187 246 205 209 147 105 110 88 111 88 130 
			 Immediate custodial sentence 532 734 968 977 985 1,009 1,053 1,139 993 965 1,026 1,043 
			 Non-criminal — — — — — — — 2 — 1 2 — 
			 In default of payment of a fine — — — — — — — — — — — — 
			  
			  Females 
			  Aged 15 
			 Total 1 7 9 7 7 3 7 9 — — — — 
			 Untried — — — — — — — — — — — — 
			 Convicted unsentenced — — — — — — — — — — — — 
			 Immediate custodial sentence 1 7 9 7 7 3 7 9 — — — — 
			 Non-criminal — — — — — — — — — — — — 
			  Aged 16 
			 Total 13 17 12 20 22 28 12 27 6 2 1 — 
			 Untried — — — — — — — — — — — — 
			 Convicted unsentenced 1 — — — — — — — — 1 — — 
			 Immediate Custodial Sentence 12 17 12 20 22 28 12 27 6 1 1 — 
			 Non-criminal — — — — — — — — — — — — 
			  Aged 17 
			 Total 35 45 50 52 57 58 71 81 71 74 71 69 
			 Untried 11 8 11 8 13 13 13 5 12 10 11 14 
			 Convicted unsentenced 6 4 7 9 6 7 12 7 8 84 — 5 
			 Immediate Custodial Sentence 18 33 32 35 38 38 46 68 51 57 54 50 
			 Non-criminal — — — — — — — — — 2 — — 
			 In default of payment of a fine — — — — — — — — — — — — 
			 (1) Taken from table 8.20 in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005 to be found at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb1806section8.xls  Data Sources and Quality: These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system, and so although shown to the last individual, the figures may not be accurate to that level. See Technical appendix of report for fuller information.

Young Offenders

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what the Government policy is on keeping young people held in  (a) young offender institutions and  (b) secure accommodation close to their family home.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Responsibility for placing young people under 18 within the secure estate lies principally with the Youth Justice Board. Children under 15 may be placed in a secure children's home or a secure training centre. Young people under 18 may also be accommodated in those establishments, but most are placed in a young offender institution. In deciding which sort of placement is appropriate, the board has regard to the young person's age and sex and to his or her individual needs. Having taken account of those factors, the board's policy is to place the young person as close to home as possible. But the chief consideration is that the establishment should be of a type that is able to meet the young person's particular needs.

Young Offenders: Secure Accommodation

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many secure accommodation places there are for juveniles.

Gerry Sutcliffe: There are currently 3,539 places for young people in the secure estate for children and young people. 3,003 are in young offender institutions, 301 in secure training centres and 235 in secure children's homes. These figures have been provided by the Youth Justice Board.
	The actual daily availability will vary. Places may be out of commission for various reasons, for example because of damage.

Young Offenders: Secure Accommodation

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many  (a) boys and  (b) girls were held in juvenile secure accommodation in each of the last 10 years.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The figures in the following table have been provided by the Youth Justice Board, which has been responsible for purchasing and commissioning places in the secure estate for children and young people since 2000. The table shows the total number of boys and girls under 18 in custody at the end of June in each year from 2000 onwards and covers the three sectors of the estate (young offender's institutions, secure training centre and secure children's homes). Complete data for earlier years are not held centrally.
	
		
			   Male  Female 
			 2000 2,677 148 
			 2001 2,666 155 
			 2002 2,849 222 
			 2003 2,586 198 
			 2004 2,561 187 
			 2005 2,610 215 
			 2006 2,707 211

Young Offenders: Secure Accommodation

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many  (a) boys and  (b) girls are being held in juvenile secure accommodation.

Gerry Sutcliffe: On 27 April 2007, 2,681 boys and 197 girls under 18 were held in the secure estate for children and young people. 2,326 boys and 66 girls were in young offender institutions; 162 boys and 94 girls in secure training centres; and 193 boys and 37 girls in secure children's homes. These figures have been provided by the Youth Justice Board.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Departments: Sovereign Strategy

Theresa May: To ask the Leader of the House how many meetings  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials from his Office held with Sovereign Strategy in each year between 1997 and 2006.

Jack Straw: Our records do not cover the entire period requested, but from the information available there were no official meetings held with any holder of this office in that capacity. My right hon. Friend the Member for Ashfield (Mr. Hoon) has been a personal friend of Alan Donnelly, executive chairman of Sovereign Strategy, for many years, and met Mr. Donnelly on a number of occasions during the period he was Leader, as he has, I understand, done so before and since. These were private meetings and not in connection with his responsibilities as Leader.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Dairy Products: Milk

Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions he has had with supermarkets regarding the price of milk and its effect on dairy farmers.

Ian McCartney: Ministers and senior officials meet with all businesses, including supermarkets, from time to time to discuss a range of issues.
	Milk pricing is primarily an issue for DEFRA and for OFT. However, the Competition Commission in the course of its investigation into the UK grocery market highlighted in its emerging thinking document published in January
	That the number of dairy and pig meat farmers has declined in recent years indicating significant difficulties in those sectors. Average incomes are now rising but supermarkets are retaining an increasing share of the retail price for milk (the situation is less clear for pig meat). We will be looking at this further as well as other primary produce sectors.
	The CC has not yet reached any conclusions but hopes to publish its final report in February 2008.

Debts: Telephone Services

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many calls received by the National Debtline in each quarter of the last two years  (a) received an engaged tone,  (b) were answered by an adviser,  (c) were abandoned by the caller and (d) were abandoned.

Ian McCartney: The National Debtline is run by the Money Advice Trust. It does crucial work in helping the over-indebted with their problems.
	The DTI have given National Debtline a grant of £1 million this year (as have the DCA) to help them continue to expand their assistance programme. We clearly value their work but we do not run National Debtline and questions about calls statistics are best posed to the Money Advice Trust direct. They are happy to assist and have contacted your office on this.

Departments: Sovereign Strategy

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many meetings  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials from his Department held with Sovereign Strategy in each year between 1997 and 2006.

Jim Fitzpatrick: According to our records, Ministers have not held meetings with Sovereign Strategy. DTI officials separately held one meeting with the company in 2004.

Employment: Older Workers

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is considering to prolong the working lives of employed elderly people.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The age discrimination legislation that we brought into force on 1 October 2006 was a significant step in helping older people in the employment market. The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations establish basic requirements so that people can no longer be denied jobs because of prejudice; so that harassment can be tackled promptly and effectively; and so that people have an equal chance of training and promotion whatever their age. Furthermore, we recognise that many older workers would remain in work past their normal retirement age if given that opportunity. For the first time employees have a statutory right to request this opportunity under new procedures in the legislation. We believe that this will precipitate a culture change in which retirement decisions are discussed in the light of the needs of the individual and of the business.

Russia

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many ministerial visits to Russia his Department undertook in each year between 2002 and 2006; and for what purposes.

Ian McCartney: There were three ministerial visits to Russia, in June 2004, February 2006 and March 2006, the purposes of which were to take forward discussion with the Russian Government about our bilateral trade, investment and energy relationship.
	In June 2004 my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, West (Ms Hewitt) visited Moscow for discussions about trade, investment and energy issues. In February 2006 my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley, South (Ian Pearson) paid a trade-related visit to Russia and Ukraine and in March 2006 my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull, West and Hessle (Alan Johnson) visited Moscow for a G8 Energy ministerial meeting. It is also worth noting that the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr. Darling) visited Moscow in February 2007.

Seals: Animal Products

John MacDougall: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the Government expect to achieve their aim of an EU-wide ban on the use of seal products.

Ian McCartney: holding answer 18 May 2007
	Only the European Commission can make proposals for an EU-wide import ban.
	European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas has commissioned a study on the animal welfare aspects including humaneness of seal culling. The study is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Once this study has been completed, the Commission will decide whether to propose further legislative measures.

Unfair Dismissal: Tribunals

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many and what proportion of  (a) men and  (b) women who appealed to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal in the last 12 months have had their claim upheld.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	Between April 2006 and March 2007, 44,496 unfair dismissal cases were received by employment tribunals. During this same period, 4,245 claims were upheld.
	The proportion of men and women who made claims to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal in the last 12 months is not readily available and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.

TRANSPORT

A19: Road Traffic

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department plans to take to reduce the level of traffic congestion on the A19 road, with particular reference to the stretch between Wynyard and Portrack.

Stephen Ladyman: The Highways Agency recently installed CCTV cameras on Tees Viaduct to allow incident related congestion to be identified and responded to more quickly. The agency is also developing a more comprehensive tactical diversion route strategy and progressing designs for the installation of electronic variable message signs at key junctions on the A19. This will reduce the impact of incident related congestion and improve driver information.
	The Highways Agency is working with Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit on an area action plan for the Tees Valley, looking at what transport provision will be needed in the future to accommodate travel demand arising from planned development. The study will include the stretch of the A19 between Wynyard and Portrack, and is due to report towards the end of the summer.
	The agency is also working with Tees Valley local authorities on other studies looking at congestion points at junctions on the A19 through Tees Valley.

Aviation: Compensation

Gwyneth Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which EU countries are not complying with the European Directive on compensation for air passengers.

Gillian Merron: The European Commission's recent report into the operation of the regulation suggests that some member states do not yet have the power to impose penalties on airlines. The document is available on the internet at the following address:
	http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air_portal/passenger_rights/information_en.htm
	Copies have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
	I can confirm that the UK is complying with Regulation (EC) 261/2004 which provides compensation and assistance to air passengers in the event of denied boarding, cancellation and long delay to flights.
	The Commission commenced infraction proceedings against the UK in December 2006 as it believed the UK's complaints handling policy favoured UK residents over non-UK residents. This has now been resolved so that all complaints are handled in the same way while maintaining the service provided to UK residents. The Government believe that the infraction proceedings will not be taken forward.

Bus Services: Antisocial Behaviour

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures his Department is implementing to protect the drivers and passengers of buses from individuals throwing missiles at buses.

Gillian Merron: The Government work with transport operators and other parties to tackle the transport dimensions of crime and antisocial behaviour.
	The Department brings together representatives of bus operators, unions, transport and local authorities, the police, passengers and Government Departments under the Safer Travel on Buses and Coaches Panel (STOP). The panel looks at ways to combat assaults, antisocial behaviour and vandalism on vehicles, at stops and stations and property. We have produced guidance including 'Protecting Bus and Coach Crews' available free from DfT publications, 0870 1226 236.
	Practical advice on tackling the issue of stone throwing has been published on the Government's Crime Reduction website at:
	http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk/criminaldamage/cdfaqs11.htm.

Highway Code: Cycling

James McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he last met cycling groups to discuss the proposed changes to the Highway Code.

Stephen Ladyman: holding answer 18 May 2007
	 I met my hon. Friend the Member for Islington, South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry), chair of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group, on 7 September 2006, to discuss the concerns of some cyclists about the proposed changes to the Highway Code, following the public consultation. In all, 43 changes were made to the original draft in response to representations made by cyclists and cycling groups.

Highway Code: Cycling

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions have taken place with representatives of cycling organisations on the new version of the Highway Code; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I have given today to the hon. Member for Dundee, West (UIN 137924).

Milton Keynes Station: Parking

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will take steps to increase car parking space at Milton Keynes station.

Tom Harris: Network Rail, in conjunction with Milton Keynes council and other key stakeholders, is working on proposals to increase car parking capacity. The Department is monitoring progress to ensure delivery meets the anticipated increases in demand following the improved timetables to be introduced on the West Coast Main Line in early 2009.

Motorway Service Areas

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made with the piloting of French-style rest areas next to motorways.

Stephen Ladyman: Officials are currently undertaking a review of the policy on roadside facilities. As part of that review, evidence has been sought from the public and interested parties on relevant issues, including motorway rest areas. The evidence received is being considered and I hope to be able to publish a new policy in the autumn, following further public consultation.

Public Transport

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he plans to take to increase the role of social enterprise organisations in the provision of public transport.

Gillian Merron: The Department of Transport launched a report in November 2006 which looks at the role of social enterprise in community transport. We are working with the Plunkett Foundation and the Community Transport Association on taking the recommendations forward.
	Social enterprise organisations which do not operate with a view to profit may benefit from the proposals set out in "Putting Passengers First" concerning vehicles operated under permits under section 19 or 22 of the Transport Act 1985. Essentially these changes would allow more flexibility as to vehicle size and would allow drivers of buses on section 22 services to be paid. Putting Passengers First may be found on the Department's website (www.dft.gov.uk).

Railway Stations: Access

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set benchmarks or other criteria to be achieved by Network Rail and train operators in ensuring access to railway stations for  (a) disabled people,  (b) people who are semi-ambulant and  (c) mothers with young children; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Harris: holding answer 21 May 2007
	When undertaking refurbishment or installing new equipment at stations Network Rail and train operating companies are required to meet the technical standards in the Train and Station Service for Disabled Passengers: A Code of Practice (SRA, 2002).
	In addition, new technical standards for stations are due to come into force shortly under the EU-wide Technical Standards for Interoperability; Persons of Reduced Mobility. This will apply to those with luggage, parents with prams and other groups, as well as disabled people.
	Operators also have a duty under Part 3 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to make reasonable adjustments to their services to ensure they are not impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to access.
	Where a train operator or Network Rail cannot meet the required standards in the code of practice, they must apply to the Department for a dispensation.
	As a result of the incoming European Technical Standards for Interoperability; Persons of Reduced Mobility, the Department are currently developing an updated code of practice to bring UK standards into line with the TSI.
	The Railways for All strategy was launched on 26 March 2006. It sets out what the rail industry is doing to improve access to Britain's railways, particularly for people with disabilities, in line with the standards contained in the code.
	Central to the strategy is the Access for All programme which provides £370 million of ring-fenced funding to improve accessibility at railway stations up to 2015.
	In addition, around £7 million a year is available from the Access for All Small Schemes fund for train operators and other third parties to bid for on a match fund basis.
	Train and station operators are required to have in place a Disabled Person's Protection Policy (DPPP) which sets out the organisation's policies and approach for helping disabled people and a summary of the accessible facilities at the stations they operate.

Railways: Hampshire

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average travel time was by rail between  (a) Portsmouth and Waterloo via Eastleigh and  (b) Southampton and Waterloo in each year since 1997.

Tom Harris: The average journey time comparisons for 1997 to 2007 are listed as follows.
	
		
			  Portsmouth-London Waterloo via Eastleigh 
			   Time 
			 1997 2h 17 
			 1998 2h 17 
			 1999 2h 23 
			 2000 2h 23 
			 2001 2h 23 
			 2002 2h 23 
			 2003 2h 23 
			 2004 2h 01 
			 2005 2h 12 
			 2006 2h 12 
			 2007 2h 12 
		
	
	
		
			  Southampton-London Waterloo 
			   Time 
			 1997 1h 13 
			 1998 1h 13 
			 1999 1h 16 
			 2000 1h 16 
			 2001 1h 18 
			 2002 1h 16 
			 2003 1h 16 
			 2004 1h 18 
			 2005 1h 19 
			 2006 1h 19 
			 2007 1h 19 
		
	
	The Portsmouth to Waterloo via Eastleigh service has been subject to various stopping patterns. Prior to 2004 it was literally all stations, then became fast from Basingstoke, and now is a semi fast.
	The Southampton to Waterloo journey time is based on the fast service and has marginally increased through extended dwell times with the modern stock.

Road Signs and Markings

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will bring forward amendments to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 to enable the shape of a pedestrian to be painted on the road surface at the approach to pedestrian crossings as an additional safety measure.

Gillian Merron: No, as no road safety purpose would be served. The presence of a pedestrian crossing is already indicated by zigzag markings on the approaches, Belisha beacons or traffic signals. If there is an identified need for further warning, there are prescribed warning signs for zebra crossings and for signalled crossings.

Road Signs and Markings

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many times local highways authorities  (a) faced civil action and  (b) paid any amount in settlement for liability claims made against them for the (i) absence and (ii) incorrect positioning of a road sign on a public highway in each of the last five years.

Gillian Merron: holding answer 21 May 2007
	 This information is not kept centrally.

Road Traffic: Stonehenge

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research  (a) his Department and  (b) the Highways Agency (i) is undertaking and (ii) has undertaken into (A) potential solutions to the traffic congestion in the vicinity of Stonehenge and (B) alternative routes to redirect the A303 away from Stonehenge following the public inquiry into the A303 at Stonehenge completed in 2005.

Stephen Ladyman: Following the public inquiry into the A303 Stonehenge Improvement scheme, the Department has led an inter-departmental review of the scheme and alternative options. The review was necessary because of a significant increase in the cost of the proposed tunnel past Stonehenge. Detailed work on the assessment of options has been carried out by the Highways Agency.
	As well as the published scheme heard at the public inquiry (with its proposals for a 2.1 km long twin-bored tunnel), the options chosen for detailed review included:
	a (cheaper) cut-and-cover tunnelled scheme;
	surface routes for upgrading the A303 passing to the north and south of Stonehenge; and
	partial solutions, comprising various combinations of closing the local A344 road (which runs immediately adjacent to Stonehenge), improving the junctions on the A303 either side of Stonehenge at Amesbury and Longbarrow (at the boundaries of the World Heritage Site) and providing a bypass for the local village of Winterbourne Stoke (to the west of Stonehenge).
	The Review Group submitted its report to Ministers last summer. However, in order to understand more fully the effects of the partial solutions on the operation of the A303 and the local road network, it was clear that further detailed analysis based on up-to-date traffic information was needed. Fresh traffic surveys were carried out by the Highways Agency last autumn to provide the basis for further analytical work which is currently being undertaken. The results from this work will be considered alongside the findings of the Review Group to inform our decision on the way forward for this scheme.

Rolling Stock

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many of the new railway carriages announced by his Department in March will be introduced by the end of each year between 2008 and 2013; and on which routes.

Tom Harris: As we have consistently made clear, it is too early to say where precisely the additional rolling stock will be used. The deployment of the new rolling stock will be agreed with the industry following the publication of the high level output specification and the long-term rail strategy this summer, in accordance with the periodic review timetable set out in the ORR's advice to Ministers published in February 2007.
	The precise phasing of the orders will reflect where crowding relief is most urgently needed; any preparatory platform-lengthening or increase in power supply which may be required to accommodate longer trains; and the capacity of the suppliers of rolling stock.

South West Trains: Fares

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the change in the level of non-regulated fares on South West Train services was in each year since 2000-01; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Harris: Changes in unregulated fares on South West Trains are a commercial matter for South West Trains. It is in their interests to provide an attractive range of fares and to encourage more passengers to use the railway.

Traffic Lights

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 2 May 2007,  Official Report, columns 1676-77W, on traffic lights, how much was spent in financial year 2006-07 on installing traffic responsive signals; and how much he expects to be spent in financial year 2007-08.

Gillian Merron: This information is not held centrally. The Department does not monitor local authority expenditure on installing traffic responsive signals. With respect to the strategic road network, most Highways Agency signals are traffic responsive, but as traffic signal installation costs are not separately recorded or forecast, it is not possible to confirm the total related expenditure.

TREASURY

Capital Allowances: Biofuels

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what the process is for obtaining approval for equipment to qualify for the enhanced capital allowances for biofuel equipment; who is responsible for submitting an application for approval; what criteria need to be satisfied for approval to be given; how long it is expected to take for a decision to be made; what remedy is available to those whose applications are unsuccessful; from what date applications may be made; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will make a statement on the criteria to be satisfied for equipment to qualify for the enhanced capital allowances for biofuel equipment announced in the Budget.

John Healey: holding answer 21 May 2007
	In Budget 2007, the Government announced their intention to apply for state aid approval for an EGA scheme to support the most carbon-efficient biofuels plant. This process is ongoing.
	Once that approval has been obtained it will be for DEFRA to consider and approve applications for the scheme.

Council Tax: Armed Forces

Mark Harper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with  (a) the Ministry of Defence and  (b) the Department for Communities and Local Government on the proposed council tax waiver for service personnel on operations overseas; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: Treasury Ministers and officials have frequent meetings with colleagues from other Government Departments on a wide range of issues as part of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such discussions.

Departments: Freedom of Information

Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many requests were made to his Department under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in each year since 2005; and how many of those requests were unsuccessful.

John Healey: For the most recent monitoring statistics I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Camberwell and Peckham (Ms Harman) on 18 April 2007,  Official Report, column 7WS.

Departments: Manpower

Oliver Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff funded by the public purse in his Department are classified as people without posts.

John Healey: The Treasury currently has no staff classified as people without posts.

Departments: Private Finance Initiative

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what the total value of private finance initiative projects included in his Department's balance sheet  (a) is in 2007 and  (b) was in each of the last five years, broken down by project;
	(2)  what the value was of annual private finance initiative payments made by his Department from  (a) capital and  (b) revenue budgets in each of the last five years;
	(3)  what value of annual private finance initiative payments by his Department was classified as  (a) identifiable and  (b) non-identifiable in each of the last five years, broken down by project;
	(4)  what value of annual private finance initiative (PFI) payments were  (a) to repay capital and  (b) expenditure on other parts of each PFI contract in each of the last five years, broken down by project.

John Healey: The Treasury has one PFI project which relates to the 1 Horse Guards Road building. All payments made under PFI are identifiable. Prior to a PFI contract being signed the profile of unitary charge payments is agreed between the contractor and the public sector, subject to the operation of the payment mechanism.
	Full details of the 1 Horse Guards Road PFI project have been included in the Department's resource accounts in each year since its inception in 2002-03. Copies of the Treasury's resource accounts are available on the Treasury website at:
	www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about/resourceaccounts/resourceaccounts_index.cfm

Revenue and Customs: Mansfield

Alan Meale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the administration costs of the HM Revenue and Customs Chaucer House office in Mansfield were in each of the last two years, broken down by main budget heading.

John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Paymaster General on 27 February 2007,  Official Report, column 1312W.

Revenue and Customs: Offices

Alan Meale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many responses to the consultation on HM Revenue and Customs local offices were received, broken down by  (a) area and  (b) medium of contact.

John Healey: The number of responses to each of the staff and union consultation exercises that have so far been concluded, and summary findings published to staff, under HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) regional review programme are set out in the table.
	All staff and union responses were sent by e-mail, most to a dedicated mailbox. Treasury Ministers and the Board of HMRC have also received written responses direct from hon. Members and other external stakeholders as shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Urban central consultation ended  Number of e-mail responses  Number of staff represented by responses  Number of MPs responding  Number of others responding 
			  London 
			 Central London 185 1,580 0 0 
			 5 October 2006 
			 Outer London 129 1,106 8 4 
			 21 February 2007 
			  
			  South East 
			 Reading 26 114 0 0 
			 Southampton and Portsmouth 156 420 5 10 
			 21 February 2007 
			  
			  East 
			 Peterborough 54 122 4 0 
			 Southend 32 75 4 0 
			  
			  East Midlands 
			 Northampton 39 178 4 0 
			 Nottingham/Derby and Leicester 162 336 15 4 
			  Yorkshire and Humberside 
			 Leeds/Bradford/Shipley 190 687 18 16 
			 Sheffield 76 188 5 1 
			 14 March 2007

Revenue and Customs: Offices

Alan Meale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to publish the conclusions of the review of HM Revenue and Customs staff and offices.

John Healey: The timetable for the commencement of each of HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC's) regional review programmes is available on its website:
	www.hmrc.gov.uk
	It is expected that announcements on decisions will be published as soon as possible after the end of the feasibility process, which lasts for 12 to 16 weeks.

Smuggling: Meat

John MacDougall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures he is taking to ensure that bushmeat is not entering the UK.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 21 May 2007
	Bushmeat is covered by HMRC's powers to deal with animal products that are imported outside the veterinary checks regime under the products of animal origin ("POAO") regulations. These powers are limited to imports into Great Britain; responsibility in Northern Ireland rests with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Northern Ireland.
	Bushmeat of animals listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ("CITES") may also breach the restrictions on import created by Council Regulation 338/97 and Commission Regulation 865/2006.
	HMRC's approach is to deter and detect illegal imports of products of animal origin from entering Great Britain, continuing to target traffic from high risk countries based on risk assessment and intelligence.
	In order to discharge this role HMRC have:
	deployed extra front line detection staff supported by detector dogs. All HMRC's detection staff are deployed flexibly according to risk and include POAO among their multi-functional responsibilities.
	undertaken a range of publicity and awareness raising initiatives to inform travellers and the UK public of the regulations. These include:
	distribution of leaflets at points of entry, including leaflets produced in 10 languages;
	high visibility posters displayed at major ports and airports;
	advertising on ticket wallets issued by travel agents;
	a press and radio publicity campaign in Nigeria;
	videos to be shown on selected inbound international flights; and
	information in the ABTA members' handbook.
	worked in partnership with DEFRA in publicising the rules relating to POAO, for example a 60-second television filler advert; and
	reported a number of cases for prosecution.
	HMRC records POAO seizures as "bushmeat" where this was how the owners described the meat to customs officials. In order to test how much seized meat might have come from CITES-listed endangered species, HMRC and DEFRA jointly sponsored a study by Wildlife DNA Services Ltd to identify species composition.
	The summary report is available at the following web address:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/resprog/findings/bushmeat-summary.pdf
	Further information on the Government's work regarding illegal imports of products of animal origin is contained in DEFRA's annual reports. The latest report is available at http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/illegali/pdf/review0405-0306.pdf and is also in the House Library.

Tax Allowances: Disabled People

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what training HM Revenue and Customs officials receive on the use of VAT and tax exemption booklets which refer to exemptions for which people with disabilities are eligible.

Stephen Timms: HM Revenue and Customs runs a comprehensive training programme for compliance staff on VAT lasting over seven months. Training covering reliefs from VAT is undertaken by officers at foundation level, which covers the first year of training and operational work. As part of this programme there is a mandatory learning unit covering Reliefs for Disabled People and Charities, this covers the tax exemptions booklets that refer to exemptions for which people with disabilities are eligible. These are also covered in other learning units on Scope of Zero rating, Construction Industry and Land and Property.

Teenage Pregnancy: Wirral

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the teenage conception rate was for each ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral at the latest available date.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 22 May 2007:
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the teenage conception rate was for each ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral at the latest available date. (138438)
	Available figures are estimates of the number of conceptions that resulted in a live birth, stillbirth or legal termination. The government definition of teenagers in relation to conceptions refers to girls aged under 18.
	Figures on teenage conceptions are not routinely published at ward level due to concerns in maintaining confidentiality of individuals. Figures are however published at local authority level and figures for the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral for 2005 (the most recent year for which figures are available), are shown in the table below, for girls under 18 and separately for girls under 20. Figures for 2005 are provisional.
	
		
			  Teenage conceptions: Numbers and Rates for Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, 2005( 1) 
			   Under 18  Under 20 
			   Number  Rate( 2)  Number  Rate( 3) 
			 Wirral 301 45 711 67 
			 (1) Figures for 2005 are provisional.  (2) Rate per 1,000 females aged 15 to 17.  (3) Rate per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19.

UN Licensing System

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 3 July 2006,  Official Report, column 25WS, on the UN Licensing System, for how many individuals his Department instructed the Department for Work and Pensions to suspend benefit payments in each month since July 2006.

James Plaskitt: I have been asked to reply.
	Following the Economic Secretary to the Treasury's statement about counter terrorism and the licensing system, in which he announced that benefit paid to members of the households of listed persons fall within the prohibitions on making funds available to listed persons, four spouses of persons listed by the UN under the Al-Qaida and Taliban financial sanctions regime had their benefit suspended in mid July 2006. To date, there have been no further suspensions of benefit of the spouses or household members of listed persons. All four spouses whose benefit was suspended now have it paid under licence, three of whom have it paid into an account set up and controlled by the Treasury.
	In addition, four individuals who have themselves been listed under United Nations legislation or designated by the Treasury under the Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order 2006 have had their benefits suspended—one in August 2006, one in December 2006, one in January/February 2007 and one in March/April 2007. Some of these have applied or are applying to the Treasury for a licence to enable benefit to be reinstated.
	A significantly greater number of individuals than this have been listed or designated under the Terrorism Order but no current action is required because they are not in receipt of benefit. This is commonly because the individual is being held on remand in prison.

Valuation Office Agency

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 24 January 2007,  Official Report, column 1859W, on the Valuation Office Agency, if he will place in the Library copies of the background papers on the development and implementation of an automated valuation model research project.

Stephen Timms: The papers concerned are commercially confidential and relate to the formulation of Government policy. It would be inappropriate to deposit them in the Library.

Wealth

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will update HM Revenue and Customs' table 13.5 on the distribution of marketable wealth; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Balls: The publication of Table 13.5 has been delayed by methodological problems as detailed in an announcement on the HMRC website (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/delay-tables-13-1-13-5.pdf). Work is continuing to address the problems and a further announcement will be made by the end of June.

Welfare Tax Credits: Welfare Milk

David Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families with an entitlement to milk tokens are not receiving them because their tax credits are not being paid by the automatic computer system.

Stephen Timms: The information is not available. However, HMRC and the Department of Health have put processes in place to ensure that those on manual payments receive their milk tokens that they are entitled to.

WALES

Departments: Consultants

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the outside  (a) agencies and  (b) consultancies which are undertaking work commissioned by his Department; and what the (i) purpose and (ii) cost is of each commission.

Peter Hain: The Wales Office currently has commissioned a project initiation document from Bovis Lend Lease Limited. The cost of this document will be £4,700 and this will form part of the business case and delivery plan to assist in taking forward the proposed refurbishment project of Gwydyr House.

Departments: Manpower

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many staff funded by the public purse in his Department are classified as people without posts.

Peter Hain: None.

Departments: Private Finance Initiative

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales 
	(1)  what the total value of private finance initiative projects included in his Department's balance sheet  (a) is in 2007 and  (b) was in each of the last five years, broken down by project;
	(2)  what the value was of annual private finance initiative payments made by his Department from  (a) capital and  (b) revenue budgets in each of the last five years;
	(3)  what value of annual private finance initiative payments by his Department was classified as  (a) identifiable and  (b) non-identifiable in each of the last five years, broken down by project;
	(4)  what value of annual private finance initiative (PFI) payments by his Department was  (a) to repay capital and  (b) expenditure on other parts of each PFI contract in each of the last five years, broken down by project.

Peter Hain: The Wales Office does not have any private finance initiative projects. Under the machinery of Government change, in June 2003 the Wales Office became a separate entity within the Department for Constitutional Affairs (now Ministry of Justice).
	Prior to 2003 the Wales Office services were supplied by the National Assembly for Wales.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to improve understanding of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis among employers.

Anne McGuire: The Department recognises that chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis is a real and potentially debilitating condition that can affect individuals' capability for work and their chances of finding and retaining employment. However, our work to engage and support employers and tackle discrimination is not focused on specific conditions but looks at health conditions and disabilities in the round.
	DWP has, in recent years, run a number of campaigns aimed at raising the general awareness of disability issues among employers and is currently developing an employer-led campaign to better engage employers with the recruitment and retention of disabled people. The campaign will address issues at both corporate and local delivery levels. It will also seek to influence the attitudes and behaviour of expert advisers and job market intermediaries.
	Meanwhile, changing employer perceptions on health problems has been identified as a key priority for the cross-government Health, Work and Well-being Strategy. The strategy's National Stakeholder Council, which comprises senior members of key stakeholder groups such as the Confederation of British Industry, Federation of Small Businesses, Trades Union Congress and Association of British Insurers, has decided that one of its four areas of focus will be on "engaging employers as leading advocates of change".

Departments: Marketing

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2007,  Official Report, column 1064W, on branding, if he will place in the Library a copy of the  (a) guidelines issued to staff on maintaining his Department's corporate identity and  (b) final 2004 report on the review of his Department's corporate image.

Anne McGuire: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member on 8 May 2007,  Official Report, column 168W.

Departments: Task Forces

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what  (a) task forces and  (b) units operate in his Department; what the annual budget is of each; and how many staff each unit employs, broken down by civil service grade.

Anne McGuire: The information requested is set out in the following tables. The information in the tables covers all of the Department's task forces. The information on business units represents the most detailed breakdown available from centrally held records.
	The Department's organisational architecture comprises business units designed to deliver: departmental-wide strategy and planning; strategies and policies to meet the needs of particular customer groups; direct delivery of services to customers; and delivery of departmental-wide shared services. Within each of these business units specific responsibilities fall to functions designated as directorates and divisions.
	Also within these business units there are smaller business functions that are described as units but data are not held centrally on their functions, budgets or staffing and this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Task force  Staff profile by grade  Financial allocation for 2007-08 (£) 
			 Jobcentre Plus Provision Forum 1 x SCS PB 2(1)( )3 x SCS PB 1(1)( )1 x Band F(1) (2)800 
			
			 Health Professionals Advisory Group Grade SCS PB2 and Band C(1) (3)0 
			
			 Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) Ethics Committee 2 x Band G (3)0 
			  1 x Band F (3)0 
			
			 Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force Band E and Band D(1) 15,000 
			
			 Transformation of the Personal Capability Assessment (PCA) Consultative Group SCS PB 1(1) (3)0 
			
			 Health Work and Well-being (HWWB) National Stakeholder Council 0 civil servants 50,000 
			
			 SSP (Statutory Sick Pay) Review Group Band E and Band D(1) (3)0 
			
			 Official Error 1 x SCS PB1(1) (4)0 
			  4 x UG6(1) (4)0 
			  2 x UG7(1) (4)0 
			  3 x SEO(1) (4)0 
			  1 x HEO(1) (4)0 
			 (1) On part-time basis. (2) £800 per year for meetings only. (3) No funding other than staff costs. (4) No dedicated budget. 
		
	
	
		
			  DWP staffing as at 31 March 2007 
			  Business  SCS  G6/G7  SEO  HEO  EO  AO/AA  Total 
			 Jobcentre Plus 58 503 1,129 3,847 25,589 36,820 67,946 
			 The Pension Service 22 159 309 683 3,750 7,785 12,707 
			 Child Support Agency 23 131 146 515 2,989 7,420 11,224 
			 Disability Carers Service 7 48 76 298 2,143 3,415 5,988 
			 Shared Services 5 64 106 246 871 3,260 4,553 
			 The Rent Service 1 12 25 90 372 143 643 
			 Work Welfare and Equality Group 35 217 190 316 241 102 1,102 
			 Pensions Client Directorate 21 93 85 142 62 56 459 
			 Group Finance 23 118 188 372 610 208 1,519 
			 Human Resources 11 62 88 209 169 68 607 
			 Programme and Systems Delivery 29 137 50 52 35 16 319 
			 Other Corporate Units 42 251 121 359 365 268 1,406 
			 Total DWP 277 1,796 2,514 7,129 37,195 59,561 108,472 
			  Notes: 1. Figures are full time equivalent (rounded) 2. Other corporate units include Change Management, Information Directorate, Strategy, Solicitors, Private Office, Communications and independent statutory bodies 3. Figures may not sum due to rounding 
		
	
	
		
			  Departmental resource allocations 2007-08 
			  £ million 
			  Business  Total resource 2007-08 
			 Jobcentre Plus 2,807 
			 The Pension Service 515 
			 Child Support Agency 443 
			 Disability Carers Service 208 
			 Shared Services 1 
			 The Rent Service 35 
			 Work Welfare and Equality Group 1,872 
			 Pensions Client Directorate 117 
			 Group Finance 600 
			 Human Resources 81 
			 Programme and Systems Delivery 702 
			 Other corporate units 713 
			 Total DWP 8,094 
			  Notes: 1. Figures do not include EYF from 2006-07 as carry forward to 2007-08 not yet agreed. 2. Figures include EYF from 2005-06, but the draw down has not been agreed with HMT, therefore may feature in the final allocation. 3. Figures do not include additional funding as agreed by the 2007 Budget. 4. The figure is for total resource and includes Admin, DEL programme and capital.  Source: Period 12 2006-07 Budget Book

Departments: Training

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 3 May 2007,  Official Report, columns 1828-29W, on departments: training, how many staff in his Department attended  (a) self development and  (b) self awareness training courses in 2006.

Anne McGuire: Considerable effort and resources would need to be used on interrogating the Staff Information System in order to obtain information that could be used to identify the level of detail required for 2006. Obtaining this level of information could be done only at disproportionate cost.

Jobcentre Plus: Closures

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Job Centre Plus offices have closed in each region in England since 2005.

Jim Murphy: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 22 May 2007:
	The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the number of Jobcentre Plus offices, which have been closed in England in each of the Regions since 2005. This is something, which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
	Office closures occur for a variety of reasons; first, as we rationalise the old Social Security and Employment Services Estate to create the new Jobcentre Plus Network; second, as a result of centralising benefit processing and our Contact Centre activities; third as a part of our ongoing commitment to ensure that our services are provided in the most efficient manner.
	I attach a list showing the total number of closures in England since 2005 resulting from the above activities, broken down by region.
	I hope this information is helpful.
	
		
			  Office closures by English regions since 2005 (as at 16 May 2007) 
			   Number 
			 East of England 30 
			 East Midlands 25 
			 London 52 
			 North East 18 
			 North West 45 
			 South East 33 
			 South West 26 
			 West Midlands 41 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 31

Jobseeker's Allowance: Copeland

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many people in Copeland were registered for jobseeker's allowance in the financial year ending  (a) March 1997 and  (b) March 2007;
	(2)  how many people in Copeland were registered as unemployed in the financial year ending  (a) March 1997 and  (b) March 2007.

James Plaskitt: The information is not available in the format requested.
	As at March 1997, there were 2,940 people in Copeland claiming jobseeker's allowance. As at March 2007, there were 1,110 people in Copeland claiming jobseeker's allowance. These figures include those receiving national insurance credits only.

LinkAge Plus Centres

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many LinkAge Plus centres have been established in the last 12 months; where they were established; and what budget has been allocated to Link Age Plus.

James Purnell: Eight LinkAge Plus pilots have been established to expand the principles of joined up working by providing access to a wide range of services for older people, beyond the traditional benefits and care agendas.
	The pilots are located in Devon, Gateshead, Gloucestershire, Lancaster, Leeds, Nottinghamshire, Salford and Tower Hamlets.
	The LinkAge Plus programme has up to £10 million available over two years—for 2006-07 and 2007-08.

New Deal Schemes: Employment

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of New Deal participants were placed in  (a) sustained and  (b) unsustained employment in each year since the scheme began, broken down by New Deal provider.

Jim Murphy: holding answer 18 May 2007
	Information on the proportion of New Deal participants placed into sustained and unsustained employment in each year since the programme began, broken down by New Deal provider, could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Pensions

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps the Government have taken to protect and regulate pensions in each year since 1997.

James Purnell: holding answer 30 April 2007
	Since 1997, the Government have introduced or strengthened a number of safeguards to protect and regulate defined benefit occupational pension schemes.
	In August 1998 the Financial Services Regulator announced a further stage of the review covering those not in the priority categories to identify cases where people were badly advised to opt out of, not join, and/or transfer funds from an occupational pension scheme in favour of a personal pension.
	From 30 December 2005 new scheme funding requirements require trustees to develop prudent scheme funding strategies, on a scheme specific basis, for meeting their scheme's pension commitments.
	A series of other Regulations between 2002 and 2005, strengthened the employer debt for schemes in wind-up, resulting in a 'full buy-out' debt for schemes sponsored by solvent and insolvent employers, or where an employer withdraws from a multi-employer scheme.
	The Pensions Act 2004 introduced:
	The Pensions Regulator, which replaced Opra from 6 April 2005 this has a broad range of powers to help fulfil its statutory objectives. These include protecting the benefits of occupational pension scheme members. The Regulators act quickly to anticipate and tackle any risks to the benefits of those members.
	The Pension Protection Fund, which provides protection to members of eligible defined benefit occupational pension schemes where the employer becomes insolvent (after 6 April 2005) and leaves the scheme under-funded. The Pension Protection Fund went live on 6 April 2005.
	The Financial Assistance Scheme, which provides support to members of defined benefit occupational pension schemes which started to wind up, under funded (between 1 January 1997 and 5 April 2005). The Financial Assistance Scheme began operations on 1 September 2005.
	Government legislated to create a new FSA-regulated activity of establishing, operating or winding up a personal pension scheme, with a new rules taking effect from 6 April 2007. This change will extend consumer protection to all aspects of personal pensions as well as open the market up to greater competition.

Pensions Schemes

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the  (a) expertise and  (b) training requirements of trustees of pension fund schemes;
	(2)  what steps he plans to take to improve the governance arrangements of pension fund scheme trusts.

James Purnell: The Government recognise the importance of pension scheme governance and the vital role of pension scheme trustees. While they have no current plans to introduce further legislation in this area, nor to assess the expertise or training requirements of trustees directly, the strategic priorities of the pensions regulator include improving the governance of work-based pension schemes and the training of trustees.
	The regulator has already provided trustees and their advisers with extensive guidance on a range of governance issues such as internal controls and risk management through codes of practice and other guidance. The regulator has also established a free e-learning programme for trustees, the 'Trustee toolkit', providing easily accessible information which has been well received.
	The regulator will build upon this work by implementing the initiatives outlined in its discussion paper on scheme governance published in April 2007. These relate to managing conflicts, the employer covenant, relations with advisers, issues around administration, investment choices and winding-up of schemes.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent measures he has taken to reduce fraudulent claims for benefits.

James Plaskitt: Since 1997, the Department has developed and implemented a comprehensive strategy for reducing fraud. Our strategy is working—the latest National Statistics report published on 1 February 2007 estimated that, across all benefits, around £0.7 billion (0.6 per cent. of benefit expenditure) was overpaid in 2005-06 due to benefit fraud. This is down from an estimated £2 billion (2.0 per cent. of benefit expenditure) in 2001. We are determined to continue building on this success in the future by, for example, trying new data matching initiatives with credit reference agencies.

Social Security Benefits: Telephone Services

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many benefits offices provide 0845 numbers for the use of people seeking to contact them; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what the average cost was of telephone calls made to benefits offices on 0845 numbers in the last 12 months; what the total cost was of such calls; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what the  (a) average number of calls before connection and  (b) average time taken to get connected, not including connections to automated responses, was for people telephoning benefits offices using 0845 numbers in the last 12 months;
	(4)  what his policy is on charging members of the public who telephone Jobcentre Plus or benefits offices who are connected to an automated answering device but not subsequently connected to a member of staff; and if he will make a statement.

Anne McGuire: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 22 May 2007:
	The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about the use of 0845 numbers for calls to Benefit Delivery Centres and average telephone call costs. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
	To date 54 sites have converted to 0845 numbers as part of the programme to centralise benefits, which is due for completion by March 2008. Uniform telephony data on numbers of calls, average length of calls and calls terminated after the automated answering service will not be available until this modernisation programme is complete. When this process is complete the new telephony system will provide more comprehensive management information and this will enable us to more effectively manage the telephone service to our customers.
	We do not have data on the length of calls to telephony teams. If the benefit enquiry becomes complicated then the telephony team would make arrangements for a benefit specialist to call the customer back. The cost (set by BT) which begins once the customer has pressed the number on the automated response is between 1p and 3p per minute (from a landline) depending on the time of day. Call charges from mobile telephones vary depending on the service provider.
	I hope this is helpful.